Girl Troubles: Contest Conundrum
by VGS2 the sexy sausage
Summary: To enter a special female-only contest, Pikachu, his trainer and his Unova friends find themselves dressing up as girls... again. However, things turn interesting when a few familiar faces show up... (Currently going through a massive overhaul, so things might get slightly inconsistent until I'm finished. Please understand!)
1. Crossdressing Capers

**Chapter 1****: **_Crossdressing Capers_

* * *

Pikachu gave an odd look as his trainer, Ash, slumped his shoulders upon reading the writing on the door in front of them.

"Well, this isn't good," Ash said, groaning.

Puzzled, the yellow mouse read the same message on the contest hall's door. Afterwards, he became a lot less confused. "...Pika."

The message said that, for the day, only female coordinators and four of their pokémon (all female too, of course) were allowed to sign up, which went against all of the duo's plans for the day.

It also said that next week would be guys only, which _would_ be way better for the duo... except for the fact that tomorrow, Pikachu and Ash would be going back onto their journey of becoming pokémon masters. So no, it wasn't good at all.

Darn it! This was the one day that he and Ash had felt like coordinating too, just for a little change of pace, but it looked like a lost cause now.

"Pika pikachu..." the mouse muttered, his ears drooping. He'd heard that this contest was a special one, but now that he knew why, his hype had become deader than a ghost-type...

After little while, Ash stopped looking disappointed and seemed more thoughtful, as if he was cooking up an idea. A phrase that the mouse had probably stolen from Cilan...

"No, don't worry, buddy," Ash said suddenly, snapping his fingers. "I have a plan!"

"...Pi?" Before the mouse could even take a guess, Ash was already diving into some of the thick bushes that adorned the path leading up to the Contest Hall. Not expecting it, Pikachu fell off of his trainer's shoulder and landed face down onto the grassy ground inside the foliage. It didn't hurt, but it was very... unmajestic, to say the least.

Confused and annoyed, Pikachu looked up at his trainer to complain, though he stopped short once Ash pulled a frilly dress out of his bag. Now everything made sense...

Ash looked his way and saw the mouse roll his eyes. "Hey, I'm not too happy about it either, but... hey. It's not like anyone will know about it, right? It'll be our secret."

Pikachu sighed. He wasn't entirely convinced of either the plan or his trainer's mental well being. "Pika, Pikapi..."

"C'mon, Pikachu. It's not like I'm asking you to dress up as a maid or anything like that. ...Again. Now, don't look for a second."

Pikachu turned around and poked his head out of the bush to give his trainer some privacy to cross-dress. Something that he found himself doing disturbingly often lately.

To keep himself occupied, the mouse watched various different people enter the contest hall that the pair planned on entering themselves.

Pikachu sure was glad that he and Ash were entering this place, and not the cooking competition that Cilan was probably at right now. Iris didn't mind going along with the chef, but Pikachu and Ash would have been seriously bored out of their skulls. Especially since they weren't allowed to taste any of the food...

Unlike May or Dawn, Ash didn't really care about contest ribbons all that much, so entering this contest was purely for fun. Knowing Ash, though, he would give it his all regardless, which Pikachu thought was admirable. The mouse would make sure he did his best too, girly trainer or none!

Pikachu continued to watch people and their pokémon go into the building. A few boys were also entering the hall, but he got the feeling that they were just spectators. Either that or they were going to feel mighty disappointed...

After a while, he noticed that two frillish (along with their trainer) went inside at the same time, one blue and one pink. At first he didn't think too much about it, but then he realized that his own species also had a gender difference, didn't it? Quite a big one, at that.

He withdrew into the bush and took a look at the tip of his tail. Still as straight as the day he was born. Oh dear...

The only real way to fix this would be with surgery, and Pikachu didn't exactly want to go that far. Curse his odd species quirks! He didn't even remember seeing any pikachu girls back in Kanto, so he hadn't been aware of any gender differences like that until he had seen an advertisement in Sinnoh. He'd even thought that the pikachu models had injured their tails until Buizel corrected him.

Unless Pikachu and Ash could think of something, things were looking pretty bad for the mouse. It was possible that he would have to drop out of the competition and let his friends take over, which was disappointing...

After a while, Ash spoke up. "Okay, I'm finished!"

Pikachu turned around to see Ash posing a little too proudly in his orange dress and blond wig, complete with a pretty pink bow on top.

"How do I look?" Ash asked, holding a cutesy stance that would've made the rest of the team laugh.

"Piika!" The mouse smiled and gave him a thumbs up. He was quite an attractive girl, everything considered!

...Pikachu tried to not let that thought linger for too long.

"Thanks, buddy! Well, we'd better let the team know what's going on." Ash looked down at the pokéballs attached to the belt around his dress. "...This should be fun."

Before Ash could let Pikachu's comrades out, the mouse tried to grab his attention.

"Oh, what's wrong, Pikachu?" Ash asked.

"Pikachu, pika!" the mouse said, pulling his jagged tail out and showing it to Ash, while waggling the tip for emphasis.

"...Um, is your tail hurt, or something?"

Pikachu sighed and tried to think of a better way to explain. Eventually, he reached into the pockets of Ash's discarded pants to bring out a picture of a smiling, orange-haired girl that the boy had known from a long time ago.

"H-hey! Don't go waving that around!" Ash yelled, blushing. "That's... private."

"Pika pikachu, Pikapi!" The mouse pointed at the tip of his tail with the photo to help his trainer get a clue.

It took several seconds, but Ash eventually caught on. "Oh, right. Girl pikachu are different to the boys, aren't they? Dang, I forgot. Hmm..." Ash muttered before stroking his chin.

Some pokémon on the team had a habit of making fun of Ash for being... simple, so to speak. However, Pikachu knew better. His trainer could be pretty cunning when he wanted to be! Like the time he had told Pikachu to attack a rhydon's horn, for instance. That was the only reason Pikachu had won the battle, despite all odds, which was yet another reason as to why he trusted his trainer with his life.

Ash rummaged around in his backpack, looking for supplies. After a while, his face lit up as he pulled out some yellow paper, some tape, and some scissors. Pikachu didn't exactly know why he had those in his bag, but hey, he seemed to have an idea for them.

"Just a second, buddy..." Ash said as he began to cut the paper and tape certain pieces together at a frantic pace. His main topic at school must have been arts and crafts, clearly! ...If he had ever even gone to school, that is.

"Hah, finished!" Ash said as he taped his art-piece onto Pikachu. Afterwards, the trainer took a step back to admire his work. "Well, do you like it?"

Pikachu was expecting his trainer to have taped a heart shape to his tail, or something. However, the mouse certainly didn't expect two large, smooth lumps on his chest. He was starting to see why everyone made fun of his trainer all the time.

"...Is something wrong with it?" Pikachu's apparently perverted trainer asked, probably noticing the evil eye that his pokémon was giving him.

"Pika pika!" Pikachu tore off his... costume, and tried his best to hold the paper to the end of his tail, forming a little, yellow heart shape.

"...Ohhh, that's it, huh?" Ash asked, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "Whoops, I guess the internet was wrong this time. Heh..." Pikachu didn't really want to ask.

After another half a minute of paper cutting, Ash gently stuck his second attempt onto the mouse's tail. Taking a look at it, Pikachu was way more impressed this time around! Ash had captured the feminine-look almost perfectly, and had even managed to make the color match his fur too.

Pikachu gave it a thumbs up! "Pikachu pika, Pikapi!"

Ash clenched his fist victoriously. "Alright! Well then, that just leaves the other guys..." Ash examined his pokéballs. "Hmm, let's see... do you think any of them have any gender differences? I only have yellow paper, so I might need to be picky."

Pikachu shrugged. Save for the more obvious differences, he had no idea if anybody on the team had any differences in gender. Snivy was a girl, though, so Pikachu was sure that bringing her along wouldn't be a problem. With that in mind, the mouse pointed towards her ball.

"Hm? Oh, Snivy?" His face brightened. "Yeah... she's a girl, ain't she? Good thinking, buddy!" He unhooked her ball from his belt and opened it. "Come on out, Snivy!"

The second the white energy around her dissipated, Snivy looked around in confusion, probably wondering why they were inside a large bush.

As soon as she looked at Ash, though, she paused with a very unreadable expression on her face. "[...Oh, bloody hell. Do I even want to ask?]" she asked in her 'kind of posh but not really' accent.

"[It's... kind of a long story,]" Pikachu replied, speaking the same language as her. Kind of.

Snivy eyed up his tail. "[And since when were you a woman? Is there something you're both not telling us?]"

He blushed and looked off to the side, noticing Ash curiously watching them both in the process. "[Hey, i-it's not like that at all! We just wanted to get into a female-only contest, so we had to improvise!]"

She snickered. "[A female contest? Hehe, bloody hell... the implications are so endless that I don't even know which one to begin with.]"

The mouse was starting to wish that he had gone to the cooking contest instead. "[I meant- I mean, the contest is for...]" Flustered, Pikachu gave up. He got the feeling that no amount of explaining would help his case. "[...ugh, whatever! Does anyone on the team have gender differences?]"

She stopped sniggering to think. "[Hmm... I don't believe so. I mean, aside from Unfezant, of course, though wasn't she rotated out for Scraggy recently?]"

"[Unfortunately, yeah...]"

"[Ah, right. Well, either way, you might want to avoid bringing Scraggy and Krookodile into this. They don't have any differences, but they'd still never pass off as girls, if that's what your plan is.]"

"[Yeah, true enough. Okay then, thanks, Snive!]"

"[That's quite alright,]" she said before smirking. "[Heh, after all, I just love to help out a fellow girl in need.]"

Groaning, the mouse walked past her and pointed to the pokéballs of Leavanny and Oshawott, the least boisterous boys on the team. Ash not included.

"Oh, you think I should use those guys, huh?" his trainer asked before unhooking them and looking them over. "Well, I don't see why not. Come on out, Oshawott and Leavanny!" he yelled, opening their pokéballs.

After they came out of their pokéballs, they turned around and were met with the same thing Snivy saw a few moments earlier. The two best of friends in drag.

"[...]"

"[...]"

"[...So, um-]" Pikachu didn't get any more words out before Leavanny giggled heavily and Oshawott burst out laughing while slapping his belly repeatedly.

Both Pikachu and his trainer sighed. This day couldn't get any worse, could it?

* * *

"...And that's why, until the contest is over, you'll both be girls for the day!" Ash said with an awkward smile and a hesitant thumbs up, which Pikachu copied.

Leavanny looked surprisingly accepting of the situation, which was a nice contrast to the mortified otter lying in a fetal position next to him. Hoo boy...

"[_Nooo!_ _My street cred_! Now no girls will _ever_ want to go out with me!]" Oshawott cried in a way that even Piplup would be proud of.

"[Heh, so business as usual, then?]" Snivy remarked, sniggering to herself.

Oshawott shot her a harsh glare which stopped the snickering, though her smirk remained.

Leavanny moved over and kneeled next to the otter, before comfortingly patting his head. "[Come on, Oshawott... Meloetta seemed to like you! And I'm sure she would be happy to court you either way, regardless.]"

Pikachu nodded. "[Yeah, exactly. She seemed pretty open-minded to me! Besides, it's not like she has to know, or anything.]"

Oshawott huffed. "[Like it matters... I haven't heard from her in ages, not even after the card I sent her last week, so she clearly preferred... _him_.]" He let the bitterness hang in the air before looking downwards. "[...Not that I blame her. She probably took one look into the future and saw me as a _girl_!]" he wailed loudly.

Pikachu briefly wondered about bringing up the fact that Meloetta now lived in a secret, undisclosed place, which would be very hard to reach by mail... but in the end, he decided not to.

Leavanny looked confused. "[I... don't think Meloetta could see into the future, Oshawott.]"

"[But do you _know_ so!? She's psychic, so she probably sees _everything_!]" Oshawott yelled melodramatically.

Snivy groaned. "[Oh, bugger me silly, Oshawott. She could barely register two pokémon fancying her at once, let alone the future, you plonker.]"

Pikachu nodded. "[Yeah. Anybody who can't see a crush as obvious as that probably wouldn't make a great fortune-teller, that's for sure,]" he said, chuckling. It really was true; Meloetta wasn't exactly the brightest lanturn antenna when it came to romance. She was almost as bad as their trainer in that regard...

Oshawott sat up. "[I-I guess...]"

"[So yeah, she won't have a clue,]" Pikachu continued. "[Heck, nobody will know but us, and we won't tell a soul!]" He turned towards a certain grass snake and raised an eyebrow. "[...right, Snivy?]"

"[Yes, yes, of course I bloody won't. Who do you think I am, exactly?]" Snivy replied, giving him a dirty look. "[I would _never_ spread gossip. Unlike that pillock, Emolga...]"

He shrugged. "[Yeah, fair enough. Sorry...]"

She huffed and crossed her arms. "[Hmph. But anyway, yes,]" she looked at Oshawott. "[your secret is safe with all of us, Oshawott. Me especially.]"

Oshawott paused, seemingly thinking it over. Before too long, he stood up and gave a weak smile. "[...Okay then. I'll... I'll do it. Thanks, guys.]"

Seeing everyone finally looking content, Ash piped in. "So, is everyone okay with the plan, then?"

The team gave a small cheer back in response. "Okay, cool! Then let's go! Oop, but first..." He reached for his two remaining pokéballs: the ones containing Scraggy and Krookodile. Oh _hail_ no!

Almost straight away, Pikachu and Oshawott lunged forward and grabbed Ash's arm at the same time. The mouse knew that this would never end well, and he assumed that Oshawott knew that too. If Scraggy and Krookodile got out, the poor mouse would never be allowed to hear the end of it. Especially if they started telling everyone else back at camp!

Ash gently pulled away in surprise. "What's the matter? You don't think I should let them watch?"

Both pokémon shook their heads frantically.

"Pika! Pika pikachu!" Pikachu exclaimed.

"Oshawott! Oshaaa!" Oshawott exclaimed in a louder voice.

"Hmm..." the trainer murmured, mulling things over. After a little while, he nodded. "Yeah, maybe you're right. They can be pretty rough, huh?"

Oh thank the halls above! Both pokémon sighed in relief and gave a happy call in response.

Ash stood up. "Well, in that case, let's go!" He parted open their secret shrub and stepped outside, also making sure to hold it open for Pikachu and his pals to scramble out of.

Everyone stepped outside into the warm sunshine, which Pikachu greatly appreciated. It wasn't all that dark inside the bush, but it still felt nice to be in the open air with the sun on his fur again.

"Oh, wait a second, guys!" Everyone turned around to see Ash plucking some flowers out of the ground, which he then attached to their heads for that extra girly touch.

Pikachu didn't really mind his new look. The small blue flower really showed off his cute side! Leavanny seemed quite pleased with his large red one, too. It was more than the mouse could say for his other companions, though...

Snivy looked more mildly irritated with her purple flower than anything, probably not appreciating the feminine gesture too much, and Oshawott looked physically ill to be wearing such a pretty pink thing, despite the reassurance from earlier. Heck, Pikachu was half afraid that he would hurl!

"There, perfect! Now, follow me, guys! Um, girls!" Ash said as he marched on ahead.

The mouse and his friends followed him towards the contest hall, some with more reluctance than others.

* * *

After their trainer had finished registering himself under his 'Ashley' alias, everyone was led into a waiting room, which was packed with trainers and pokémon.

The atmosphere made Pikachu shudder with anticipation. This was going to be awesome! He was no contest expert, admittedly, but with all the tips and tricks given to him by his old friends (especially one long-eared friend of his in particular), he was sure he would make his trainer proud!

According to the receptionist who brought them into the room, Pikachu's team didn't have long to wait until they were up. Their turn started after the next battle, which was already looking pretty heated judging by the television screen on the wall.

The set up for the competition was pretty informal from what the mouse could tell, but it still sounded fun enough. Each team would get randomly picked to square off against other randomly selected teams, and the team with the most wins by the end of the day would get the first place prize. Seemed basic enough.

The rules for the contest battles themselves were interesting, though. Both coordinators would send out one member of their four-pokémon team. After the pokémon chosen to move first (via a coin flip) showed off with a few fancy moves, the turn would shift to the opponent, who would have to one-up their opponent with their own stylish moves that used elements from the opponent's previous routine.

For example, if Pikachu used electricity on the fire left behind by the opponent's flamethrower to make a sparkly flame pillar, his opponent would have to... make it larger with more fire, maybe? Nah, that wouldn't work. The rules said that the move would have to be at least somewhat impressive, or they wouldn't pass. Turning a fire into a bigger fire with more fire was not very... well, fiery.

Anyway, both pokémon would keep taking turns until one of them was unable to come up with a way to outdo their opponent, meaning that they had lost the round. After that, it was time for the losing coordinator to call out another pokémon, who would face-off against the pokémon who won the last round. This carried on until all four pokémon on a team were eliminated, earning a win for the victors.

The rules sounded complicated as Pikachu ran by them in his head, but after watching the TV screen, he worked it out easily enough. Not that it mattered, really. All he would have to do at the end of the day, as always, was follow Ash's orders. Now that was easy!

Speaking of the contest, the current match on the screen was pretty fun to watch! Each coordinator was down to their last pokémon, an audino and a golurk. The audino had just finished using her Attract move to blow many hearts into the air, which the golurk had taken advantage of by absorbing them into her jet engine... butt thing to make her normally red flames pretty and pink as she flew around the hall. It was impressive to watch!

...Did golurk even have genders? Pikachu seemed to remember reading somewhere that they didn't... Well, whatever. Pikachu wasn't exactly a girl himself, so he wasn't one to judge.

As Pikachu's mind continued to wander, something bumped into him and knocked him over, making him smack his head against the floor. Ouch...

Whoever walked into him gasped, and scrambled over to help him back onto his feet. "[S-sorry! I didn't... I wasn't paying attention,]" the pokémon mumbled, her voice sounding feminine.

Pikachu was still dazed, but with the girl's help, he managed to get back onto his feet. "[Err, it's alright. I'm fine. I think...]" he replied.

Glancing at the girl who'd bumped into him, he saw that his accidental assailant was a brown-furred pokémon, who was currently staring down at the ground and away from him.

Unfortunately, though, his vision was too blurry from the fall to make out any details other than that. It also didn't help that she was mumbling far too much for him to pick out her species name.

"[Well, okay. That's good. Umm... bye then,]" she muttered before hopping away into a crowd of pokémon and out of his sight.

Well, that was weird. Pikachu didn't even get a proper chance to talk to the girl! She must have been real shy.

It was a shame, really. The girl's voice reminded him of a very good friend that had left with Dawn's team a month or so ago. This girl seemed a lot more shy and soft-spoken than his extroverted rabbit pal ever was, though!

Speaking of her... he honestly missed Buneary. She could be a little clingy at times, sure, but her heart had always been in the right place. Plus, she always knew how to perk him up! Even after that one time when Paul's team had wiped the floor with the mouse and his other friends. Heck, once Pikachu and Buneary had met up again later that evening, he'd forgotten all about that broken toe of his!

Oh well... he would have to send her a letter or something, soon. Knowing her, she would certainly enjoy it! For some reason, she'd always seemed to adore him like he was some kind of hero, even on the day they'd met! So even just a little praise could make her go ungodly giddy.

Pikachu smiled nostalgically and decided to plan what he would write to her. He was content doing this until he noticed that the golurk's turn was out of time, signifying her loss.

Seconds later, a loudspeaker overhead buzzed loudly. "_Why, hello there, contestants! Could the two lovely ladies whose numbers are... 14 and 64 please enter the challenging lobby? Thanks!_" a very smooth-sounding, male voice said, almost seeming flirtatious.

Suddenly, a girl's sigh could also be heard on the loudspeaker. "_Hey, you! Don't you remember the promise you made to Mother about philandering during work hours?_"

"_What? N-no, complimenting girls doesn't count as philandering!_" the guy flusteredly replied. "_I'm merely being nice, is all._"

"_Sure thing, Mr. 'Care for a spot of tea, milady?'..._"

He huffed. Afterwards, he made a pondering noise. "_...I **can** still flirt with you, though, right?_"

The girl made an amused sound. "_Maybe... though you might wanna cut the microphone before everyone hears ya doing that._"

After a pause, he sounded shocked. "_Oh, gods, this thing's still on!? Oh no, how embarras-_" he exclaimed before ending the call.

Pikachu raised an eyebrow at the uncomfortably awkward tirade. Afterwards, he just shrugged before excitedly balling a fist. Yes! It was time to show everyone their moves!

Done with that, he located Ash and jumped onto his trainer's shoulder. Soon after, Oshawott jumped onto Ash's other shoulder, and the rest of the team followed closely behind as they all entered the lobby.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED!**

* * *

**Finished:** 31/07 (July)/2014

**Word count:** 3,972

**VGS2's pointless notes:** And so it begins! The contest conundrum of wonders! I hope your bodies are ready! :D

**Shameless self-promotion: **If you don't review, favourite and/or follow this story, brown, furry creatures will accidentally start bumping into you! (Disclaimer: Not really)

Also, many thanks to ravengal for helping me make this chapter less horribad. You're da bes!

Alrighty, now I'm done! Tata for now! c:

* * *

**Next up:** The crazy contest begins!


	2. Beautiful Battles

**Last time on Girl Troubles...**

Pikachu &amp; Ash: "Let's dress up as girls for the contest!"

Oshawott: "No. D:"

Everyone: "Do it."

Oshawott: "Okay. D:"

And then they done'd it.

* * *

**Chapter 2****: **_Beautiful Battles_

* * *

The team was directed up one of two flights of stairs and inside a murky room. Once inside, they were asked to stand on top of a platform, which they did.

After a while of waiting on top of Ash's shoulder, Pikachu got fed up and decided to look over the rest of the team to keep himself occupied.

He started by glancing at Ash, who seemed content enough to just stand there smiling to himself. He seemed just as excited as Pikachu was!

Looking over to his trainer's other shoulder, he could see Oshawott. He was twiddling his paws together while breathing deeply, looking very displeased indeed. Pikachu guessed that he was still unsure about going into the competition as a girl.

He really hoped that the otter would be okay. The last thing they needed was him freaking out in the middle of a routine...

Peering downwards was uneventful, as Snivy looked as unreadable as ever. She stood there with crossed arms and a stoic look on her face. Either way, she seemed comfortable enough. Or at least, more comfortable than Oshawott, though that wasn't saying much.

Standing next to Ash was Leavanny. Pikachu noted that the self-proclaimed caterpillar was nervously scanning the darkened room. Almost as if making sure that nothing was lurking in the shadows.

He could understand why the guy seemed so nervous, though; a long time ago, while he'd still been a sewaddle, an incident involving a dark, cloudy day and an angry pansear had left Leavanny with a fear of the dark.

...Or so the rumor went, anyway. Pikachu had never heard it from the caterpillar's lips, himself, but he didn't exactly want to ask the guy, either. Pushing for details on that would probably be painful for the poor bug-type, so the mouse kept his curiosity to himself, for Leavanny's sake. It certainly did explain why he'd been so aggressively skittish back in the day, though...

Looking down Ash's side, Pikachu could see Leavanny holding Ash's hand, which seemed to keep the caterpillar calm. His fear didn't seem too crippling when he was near friends, so it usually wasn't all that bad, thankfully.

Suddenly, before the mouse could muse any further, the floor unexpectedly came to life and rose into the air, carrying everyone along with it! However, before anyone could panic, the ceiling parted to make way for the rising platform, ending a few concerns. That didn't stop Pikachu's heart from beating at a new all-time high, though; he thought they'd fallen for a deathtrap made by Team Rocket, or something! Though it wasn't often they would spring a trap without announcing their presence at the same time, to be fair...

After a few seconds, the platform stopped beside a small podium, which was next to a somewhat dimly lit, windowless arena. To the side was a large, modestly-filled spectator stand. This place didn't seem to be all that popular.

On the other end of the hall, opposite to Ash's end, Pikachu saw a young girl in a dress, along with four other pokémon. They were also being lifted into the arena on a rising platform. It was a safe bet that this was Ash and the team's first opponent of the day.

How they looked so unfazed after being air-lifted with no warning, though, was anyone's guess. Pikachu and his pals were still trying to recover their lunches! Especially Oshawott and Leavanny, who had already been pretty antsy to begin with.

Ash and Snivy, however, were anything _but_ shaken. Ash had already been through this rising platform procedure before, so he was probably used to it. Also, Pikachu was pretty sure that Snivy was unaware of the emotion called 'fear', so her apathy wasn't much of a surprise.

Pikachu was used to rising platforms too, of course, but never ones in dark rooms. The person who owned this place really must have hated their electricity bills. Not that the mouse would know anything about those. He didn't need electricity when he could make it...

The lack of spectators in attendance may have been for the best, though. Oshawott looked like he was going to pass out at any second! He usually didn't mind large crowds, but this was his first time under the spotlight in drag, so it was understandable. That elevator ride probably hadn't done wonders for his nerves, either...

Pikachu decided to try and comfort the otter before he made a mess of Ash's shoulder. "[Hey, Osha?]"

"[Y-y-yeah?]" the shivering otter asked.

"[Nobody here knows who you are except for us, so try to cool it, okay? You'll be alright.]"

Oshawott gave an unsure look. "[B-but... the girliness, though...]"

"[You're the only masculine 'girl' here, if it helps,]" Snivy added, looking up at him.

Pikachu nodded in agreement before pausing. "[...Hey, what are you implying, exactly?]"

"[Well, the manliest girl here isn't you, that's for sure.]" She smirked. "[Don't think I didn't spot you smiling when Ash put that daisy on your head.]"

Oshawott chuckled, his distressed look replaced with an amused one. "[Hey, she's right, y'know. You really _were_ digging that flower...]"

Pikachu crossed his arms and huffed. "[Hmph, even so, I can _too_ be manly...]" He looked over at Leavanny, who was still trying to catch his breath from earlier. "[Right, Leaf?]"

The caterpillar gave a small jolt, as if not expecting to be spoken to. "[Ah! Um, what're we talking about, sorry?]"

"[About how manly I can be.]" He put his paws on his hips and puffed his chest out. "[I have lots of masculinity, right?]"

"[Oh, right.]" Leavanny smiled pleasantly. "[Don't worry, Pikachu! You have quite a pretty appearance, so I'm sure nobody here will think you're too masculine. You'll fit perfectly into the contest!]"

Pikachu slapped a palm to his face as the others laughed. "[...Just what I wanted to hear. Thanks, Leaf...]" he mumbled, regretting everything in life.

Leavanny gave a sheepish look. "[O-oh, sorry... was that the wrong answer?]"

"[Nope. I'd say that you're just about spot on, Leavanny,]" Snivy responded, holding back laughter.

"[Quiet, you,]" Pikachu muttered, paw still on face. It was nice to know that Snivy was all too keen to drop the stoic act just to tease him.

"Hey, what's the matter buddy?" Ash asked, noticing his declining mood. "You're not nervous about the contest, are you? Just remember to be girlier than you usually are, and we'll do awesome!"

"[...What do you mean 'than I usually am'!?]" Pikachu exclaimed, not caring whether he was understandable to Ash or not.

Ash looked startled. "Er, n-never mind, then!" he said before quickly diverting his attention elsewhere.

Except for Leavanny, the others laughed even more, making the mouse blush hard.

He sighed. Man, now he _really_ wished Buneary was here. She would've defended his masculinity to the ends of the earth and stopped his ego from crashing into the ground. Then again... she'd been the last person to call him manly, hadn't she? Plus, she was a huge flatterer, so... Oh lord, maybe he _was_ girly...

Seeing Oshawott smile as his laughter died down, though, Pikachu cheered up a little. Even if his ego was now smaller than a joltik, their words seemed to help calm the otter down, saving Ash from having to get his dress cleaned, if nothing else.

Suddenly, a lady with her red hair in a ponytail, who was also wearing what appeared to be a red and yellow jester's outfit, walked out onto the middle of the arena. Then pulling a microphone out of her belt, she started speaking through it, confirming Pikachu's guess that this was the host of the tournament.

"_Now, folks..._" she started, "_put your hands together for our next coordinators in line_:_ Jamie Inutile and Ashley Traydem_!" The crowd applauded in response before the host spoke up again. "_Okay, girls! Pick your first pokémon_!"

Ash stroked his chin. "Okay, lemmie see..."

Pikachu jumped off his shoulder with Oshawott in tow, and fell in line with the rest of their team. Once they were in place, Ash contemplatively looked back and forth between them all.

Eventually, he looked over at Oshawott in silent consideration, though Pikachu wasn't sure if choosing him would be a good idea. Looking at him, he still seemed pretty jittery about performing in public as a girl, so there was no way that would end well...

Before Ash could say anything, though, Snivy rolled her eyes and stepped forward, catching Ash's attention by saying, "...Snivy."

"Oh, you wanna try first, huh? Well, okay, sure. Let's go!" Ash replied, moving into position with no less excitement than before.

She began to walk out into the arena, but not before looking back towards Oshawott in a side glance. "[...You'll do brilliantly, Oshawott, so relax, okay? I don't want you having a heart attack over this.]"

Oshawott blinked, seemingly not expecting the sudden comforting. Afterwards, he did a quick and goofy salute. "[Y-yes, sir! Er, ma'am!]"

She smirked. "[Heh, good. Now if you'll excuse me...]" She calmly walked over to the contest arena, saying nothing more.

As she left, Oshawott's face took on a silly grin, as if he was touched by her effort to cheer him up.

Pikachu smiled. Despite how stoic the snake could be, she was always ready to drop the act a little bit for Oshawott's sake. Well, usually, anyway.

"[It sure looks like Snivy believes in you, Oshawott,]" Leavanny said happily.

Pikachu nodded. "[No kidding! So you'd better do her proud!]" he said, patting the otter on the back.

Oshawott thought about it for a second, and then nodded. "[...Yeah, totally! Even with this flower on my head, I can still be a manly contest man!]" he proclaimed, posing proudly.

Both of his friends gave him a small cheer. However, they didn't have long to praise his newfound confidence before the lights in the hall dimmed slightly more. Once the hall was dark enough, the host walked towards the middle of the hall, a spotlight following her.

The contest battle was about to begin!

"[Well, it's go time! Let's go and see how she does,]" Pikachu said as he started towards a better viewing position. Everyone nodded and followed him.

Leavanny trembled slightly as they went along. "[Ohh, must they make it so dark in here?]"

"[C'mon, man. It ain't _that_ dark,]" Oshawott said, shrugging.

"[Well, I think it is. G-goodness me, it may as well be pitch black...]" Leavanny complained.

Holding back an annoyed sigh, Pikachu moved over to pat him on the leg. "[Don't worry, Leavanny. It's not so bad! Heck, if you give it a little while, your eyes will adjust to it. Then it won't seem so dark anymore. Hopefully...]"

"[Yeah, and we'll be here for ya, too!]" Oshawott added. "[So quit worrying, and start enjoying yourself!]"

"[You're one to talk...]" Pikachu muttered, making the otter huff while giving him a look.

Seemingly not hearing the remark, Leavanny exhaled gently before smiling. "[Yes, maybe you're both right...]"

Pikachu returned his smile before shifting his attention towards the arena, where he could see the host's coin being flipped...

* * *

**...Later in the day...**

* * *

"[Best of luck, Oshawott!]" Pikachu exclaimed, waving towards the now-confident otter, who was walking towards the middle of the hall. They were so close to winning this match, and it was all down to Oshawott!

This was Team Traydem's fifth match of the day, and they were doing superbly! They hadn't lost against a single coordinator so far, all thanks to Ash's brilliant coordinating and the team's excellent skills. Pikachu's included, naturally.

...Plus, while none of them were bad, the contestants here weren't all that great, either, if Pikachu had to be absolutely honest. For most of them, this seemed to be their first ever contest of any kind.

It made sense, though. Contests were exceptionally rare in Unova. Heck, they were so rare that they made shiny pokémon look common in comparison! So naturally, there weren't many places for anyone to practice in. Not counting the Musical Hall in Nimbasa City, anyway.

Still, the mouse tried not to think about that too much. To help the team win this thing, he needed to keep his morale as high as possible!

Hearing Pikachu, Oshawott turned back and gave a cocky smirk. "[Heh, don't worry, man. I won't need it!]" He turned around and began walking again, an air of overconfidence to his steps.

Trying not to roll his eyes, Pikachu went back to cheering as Oshawott neared the center of the arena. His other friends did the same on either side of him.

It was fair, he supposed. The team had done well, but Oshawott had managed to out-perform all of them throughout the contest, and then some. Well, after he'd gotten used to masquerading as a girl, anyway.

In fact, the otter had been doing _so_ well that he'd even gotten himself a big fan club! Like... a _big _fan club. As in, the once almost-empty hall was now packed with spectators, who'd specifically come to see the otter in action. Pikachu had no idea how it'd happened, but... well, yeah, it'd happened. It was almost like being at one of Drew's old fan clubs...

So yeah, he really deserved to be cocky, as much as it made Pikachu want to smack his own face against something.

Their current opponent (a... 'broad' girl in blond pigtails called Jackie) was pretty tough. Her team of pretty, pink pokémon had given him a lot of trouble, especially her killer clefairy. Her chansey and munna had been super easy in comparison...

The clefairy had beaten Pikachu with a well-timed Water Pulse to his electrified Iron Tail. It'd created loads of flying water hoops that had sparkled with electricity, dazzling the crowd. Honestly, he was still annoyed. How could he have competed with that!?

Unlike everyone else in the contest, Jackie and her pokémon certainly had some experience, no doubt about it.

Thankfully, in the round afterwards, Snivy had managed to pull through and beat her. The clefairy had used Flamethrower on the snake's spinning Leaf Storm, causing the leaves to start burning. Then, when it had been her turn, Snivy had blown a few Attract hearts into the inferno, turning it into a flaming, pink tornado of loving death. It'd been really awesome! Though Oshawott's jokes about 'heartburn' hadn't been. Pikachu's throat was still sore from all the groaning he'd done after hearing them...

Either way, Snivy's moves had been no match for the lickitung in the next round. She'd combined the snake's Leaf Storm with her own Blizzard attack to make a big, leafy snowman! Snivy had tried to retaliate by dressing the snowman up with some more leaves, complete with a flower on top. Unfortunately, the lickitung had had the same idea, using the shards from her own Rock Tomb as accessories to win the round.

Leavanny hadn't fared much better, either. He'd tried using Razor Leaf to slice up his own String Shot, which had made lots of impressive-looking stringy paper dolls. However, the lickitung had responded by simply eating them all with Lick, before spitting out a much larger origami sculpture. As slimy and gross as her countermove was, though, it had earned her the win, as Leavanny had had no decent way to counter it.

That lickitung girl really meant business... but it didn't matter; Oshawott could beat her!

Back to the contest, Pikachu saw the host flip her coin to determine the turn order. As it hit the ground, it landed heads-up, revealing that the lickitung would be the first to make a move in this round.

That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, though. It usually meant that the second pokémon had something to work with when it was their turn to move, as opposed to having to make something up.

That being said, there had been one point in the contest when Leavanny had effortlessly won against a granbull. Soon after the round had begun, she'd somehow knocked herself out with her own attack, losing before Leavanny had gotten to do anything. Everyone had burst out laughing at that point, even the usually-stoic Snivy, which really said something. Leavanny, on the other hand, had seemed more disappointed that he hadn't been able to have a proper match. If he'd have gone first, then perhaps the round would've gone on for longer... though probably not, with moves like the granbull's.

After putting her coin away, the host made her way off the stage, grabbed her mic, and yelled, "_Okay, girls! Let's begin!_"

It was time!

"Licki! Make a tower with Rock Tomb and Blizzard!" Jackie, the rival coordinator, cried out.

The lickitung (apparently called Licki) smacked the floor with her tongue, causing a large, rocky tower to burst out of the ground. Once the rock stopped, she shot a large gale of snow out of her mouth to engulf it, creating a giant pillar of snowy rock that was about as tall as an average-sized tree.

Once Licki was finished, the host spoke through her microphone. "_Not a bad start, folks! Can Ashley top that? Let's find out!_" The spotlight focused itself onto Oshawott, signifying that it was his turn.

"Oshawott, slice it up into something pretty!" Ash yelled, full of his usual zest. Well, as zesty as he could be when using a feminine voice, anyway.

With a confident grin on his face, the otter turned back and nodded. He clearly had a plan up his furry sleeve, which no doubt involved lots of showing off, knowing him. Still, Pikachu was eager to see it!

True to form, Oshawott had already closed the distance towards it. Then, almost like a ninja, he began to rapidly slice away at different parts of the icy rock formation with Razor Shell.

Quickly making short work of the tower, he jumped a fair distance away. Then, after studying the giant formation for a few seconds, he threw his shell towards the tower like a disc.

His attack sliced off a part of the tower and then returned to him like a boomerang, taking off another chunk of rock on the way back. As it came closer, he did a spinning jump before catching it and landing into a pose, sticking it back onto his chest afterwards.

The spotlight then focused onto the giant statue that'd been left behind. It consisted of 'Ashley' and the rest of the team performing various poses.

Straight in the middle were Ash and Leavanny, who had linked arms. Looking down, Pikachu saw that they were standing on... Pikachu's shoulders, who was struggling to carry them. Ugh...

Ignoring that, he looked at the top of the sculpture. There, he saw Oshawott standing on Ash's head, while doing a strong man pose with both arms. Interestingly, though, he wasn't the point of focus. Snivy was sitting on one his arms, while holding up a giant heart.

Pikachu smirked. Such subtlety...

Understandably impressed with the otter's performance, the entire hall burst into applause. Many of the people and pokémon had even begun to chant his name, as they often had throughout the contest.

"_Wow, folks!" _the host yelled excitedly_. "Yet another great deal of business from our otter of wonders! Is there anything she __**can't**__ do?_"

Even Ash looked pretty speechless, and he was the one who had given the cutting order!

The rest of the team seemed to be enjoying the spectacle, too. Especially Snivy, who was obviously touched by the otter's odd but cute gesture of putting her on the top.

Angling his head, Pikachu saw her chuckling quietly with a light blush on her face. He also heard her mutter something to herself as her eyes trailed to the ground. "[Heh. Silly plonker...]"

Despite how well Oshawott had done, however, Pikachu couldn't help but notice that the coordinator on the other side wasn't impressed at all. In fact, she was smiling smugly! That couldn't mean anything good.

"Licki, use Brick Break to fix it!" Jackie yelled, performing a karate chop for emphasis.

Pikachu didn't get it. 'Fix' it? The thing already looked good to him! Despite that, Licki nodded while grinning. Then, she spun around twice before slamming her tongue into an unfortunate place on Pikachu's sculpture, making him wince.

The entire statue shuddered a few times before key chunks of it fell off. Then everyone on the statue suddenly had goofy faces! Especially Pikachu, who looked like some kind of dorky plumber with a mustache, a large nose, and an L on his forehead.

Oh, those jerks... Pikachu couldn't stop himself from frowning at the 'improvements'. Especially when some of the spectators began to laugh. Well, the ones who weren't busy booing at Licki, anyway.

Noticing them defending Oshawott, Pikachu huffed. People had been quick to laugh at _him_ when things had gone wrong... Earlier on in the contest, while competing against a totodile, he'd slipped on a stray puddle she'd left behind with an attack. As expected, the audience had immediately begun to laugh at him, leaving the mouse horribly embarrassed.

As the memory came back to him, his ears dipped. It would've been nice if _someone_ had stuck up for him, like the crowd were currently doing for Oshawott. Lucky otter...

Shaking away his jealous thoughts, he looked over at Osha and could already tell that the guy was steaming mad. Pikachu wasn't sure if it was because Licki had somehow given Snivy a gentleman's mustache, or because she'd made Osha's face look like his rear end... but one thing was for certain: he wasn't pleased about it.

_"Ohhh, a controversial move to say the least, folks!_" the host said over her microphone. "_Still, it was an impressive one, too, so the ball is now in Jackie's park! Let's see if Ashley and Oshawott can buy it back!"_ The lights shifted from Licki to Oshawott, who looked more than ready to get that ball back.

Sure enough, after a few seconds of thought, Ash began his orders. "Oshawott, drill into the top of the statue with Aqua Jet and Razor Shell!"

The otter nodded and then rapidly jumped up the statue, using the carvings as footholds. Once he was at the summit, on top of the icy heart, he pulled off his shell and used Aqua Jet to boost into the air. Then, when high enough, he changed direction, coming down again while holding his shell out and spinning like a drill.

As soon as he hit the heart, he began to burrow deep inside of it with his improvised attack, wowing the crowd.

A few moments later, Ash yelled out his next instruction. "Now use Hydro Pump upwards!"

Seconds later, water erupted from the top of the sculpture as expected. However, because of what the statue was made out of, the waterspout was also filled with a flurry of sparkling ice and crumbled rocks. The shiny, checkered fountain made it look like a liquid chessboard was pouring out of the statue!

Needless to say, the crowd went wild again. Heck, Pikachu could swear that the amount of spectators in the hall had _tripled_ since the last time he'd looked! He frowned slightly. Just how popular _was_ this otter!?

"[Jealous much, Pikachu?]" Snivy asked, suddenly standing closer.

Yelping, Pikachu jolted. Then, catching his breath, he gave her a look. "[Darn it, Snivy, don't surprise me like that.]"

"[Heh. It's not my fault if you're too busy being envious to pay attention,]" she retorted, failing to hide a smirk.

"[Hmph. What makes you think I'm being jealous, anyway?]" he asked, crossing his arms.

She angled her head towards the direction she'd come from. "[I could practically hear your teeth grinding from over there. You're about as subtle as a punch to the nose, you know that?]"

He huffed. "[Well... alright. I'm a _little_ jealous, I guess.]"

"[Tut, tut, Pikachu,]" Leavanny chided from Pikachu's other side. "[You should be happy for Oshawott! I don't think I've seen him this happy in a long time.]"

"[I would be if he didn't keep rubbing it in our faces after every match...]" Pikachu muttered, glancing back at the contest.

Not much was going on in the round right now. Jackie seemed to be stalling, as if trying to think up a plan.

"[Can you blame him?]" Snivy asked, turning to face him. "[I'm fairly sure this is the most positive attention he's ever gotten. Of course he's going to boast more often.]"

Looking back at her, he shrugged and sighed. "[I guess... It's still like I'm talking to freakin' Piplup again, though.]"

She grimaced slightly. "[Oh, bloody hell, Pikachu. Don't let Oshawott hear you comparing him to that penguin. He'll whinge for bloody ages...]"

He chuckled sheepishly. "[Yeah, I hear ya... Still, I'm not wrong. While nothing on the planet can top Piplup's ego, Osha's is certainly coming close.]"

Leavanny kneeled down. "[Huh. Didn't you once say that Piplup is one of your best friends?]" he asked, giving a curious look.

Pikachu tilted his head. "[Well, yeah. Why?]"

"[Well... I'm just surprised, is all. I never hear you complaining about him, even though he's got a much larger ego.]" He paused before rubbing the back of his head. "[Um, your words, not mine. Eheh...]"

Pikachu paused. He was right. Why did Oshawott affect him this way, yet Piplup never had? It wasn't as if he'd never been annoyed by the penguin's pride, but it'd certainly never left a bad taste in his mouth, like Oshawott's ego...

He turned towards the arena again, watching Oshawott as his turn came up again. Earlier, while Pikachu and his friends had been talking, Licki had used Rock Tomb to create a large platform to appear underneath the statue, hoisting it up into the air.

Currently, Oshawott was busy using Aqua Jet to dash around the rocky base of the statue. As he moved, the water behind him began to freeze into slush, thanks to the icy statue above. It made the big sculpture look like it was standing in a field of snow! It was pretty coo- er, neat.

As the crowd cheered for the bowing otter, who'd skidded to a stop moments ago, it suddenly occurred to Pikachu. Piplup had never really gotten to enjoy the sort of fame that Oshawott was getting right now, had he? His friends had praised him whenever he'd done anything cool, of course, but the guy had never gotten a hall full of people chanting his name, before! That would explain why Pikachu had found his boasting far less annoying.

Plus, nobody in the hall really seemed to care about the rest of Team Traydem. At best, Pikachu and the others got a small cheer whenever they did something cool. Oshawott, on the other hand, had most of the spectators giving standing ovations whenever he did anything.

Tsk... if only Pikachu's number one fangirl was here. He got the feeling that Buneary would easily stave away his jealousy with her endless praising...

...Either way, Snivy and Leavanny were right. He was being way too petty.

He exhaled through his nose. "[...Alright, alright, I'll admit it. I'm totally jealous of Osha's popularity, not his skills.]"

Snivy shot him a smug look. "[Heh, I bloody knew it. The second someone gets more attention than you, you turn greener than the colour of my skin.]"

"[She has a bit of a point, I'm afraid,]" Leavanny agreed, half-watching the contest.

Pikachu sighed. "[Yeah, you're right... I am being a big jerk. I should just be happy for the guy.]"

Snivy nodded curtly. "[That's better.]" She turned away again, seemingly watching Oshawott, who was just standing around, waiting for Jackie and Licki to quit stalling and make a move. "[For what it's worth, though, I can see why you're jealous. I don't think he's ever been so impressive before...]"

Noticing her trailing off in an almost dreamy way, he thought of something to lighten the mood with. "[Say, Snivy?]"

She gave him a curious glance. "[Hm?]"

He smirked. "[What's with all the blushing?]"

Her eyes widened in shock. "[Huh, what!? No, I'm-]" She paused and collected herself. "[...I'm not. Whatever gave you that silly idea?]"

Pikachu sniggered mischievously. "[Yeah, you're right, I was just kidding. You are now, though! Hehe!]"

He wasn't wrong, either; her cheeks were starting to look more like his. Realizing she'd been tricked, the snake faced away and frowned. "[Oh, ha ha. My, aren't you a bloody comedian...]" she grumbled.

Leavanny giggled. "[Oh, how naughty! Taking advantage of a girl's feelings like that for a prank. Shame on you, Pikachu.]"

Snivy gave them a sideways glance. "[Feelings? Ugh...]" She turned her nose up at them. "[You're both almost as delusional as the bloody plonker, himself.]"

"[Sorry, Snive,]" Pikachu said, holding back a chuckle, "[I've always wanted to use that on someone. I would have so used it on Ash years ago, if he could understand me.]"

She let out an indignant, "[Hmph,]" and said nothing further.

"[It's not like there's anything wrong with it, though,]" Pikachu reassured, noticing her declining mood. "[You're allowed to like whoever you want.]"

"[Yes, you shouldn't be embarrassed,]" Leavanny added. "[Love is something to be cherished and shared~]"

"[Will you both bloody _shut up_ before someone hears you?]" Snivy growled, looking around.

"[But your feelings-!]" Snivy slapped a vine over the caterpillar's mouth before he could continue.

She stared at them darkly. "[Hush. I have no feelings for _anyone_, especially that bloody otter, okay? So just... hush.]" After pausing to let her point sink in, she slowly retracted the vine. "[We're good friends, but that's all...]"

Leavanny broke out into a cold sweat. "[O-okay then, sorry Snivy. P-please don't be mad.]"

Pikachu shook his head bemusedly. Man, what a stubborn woman that snake was. Why wouldn't she admit her feelings? Wasn't that what most people and pokémon did when they had a crush on someone?

Well, not that he would really know, admittedly. He was nowhere near as hopeless as his trainer (not that it was saying much), but due to his only real exposure to romance being Brock's antics, his knowledge on it was... iffy, at best. Still, if he had a crush on a girl, he would totally let her know...

...But not in the same way that Brock would, oh gosh no. If he acted like that, then even Buneary, his own hero-worshipper, would have probably run for the hills...

...What was it like to have a crush, anyway...?

"[Hey, guys!]" Oshawott yelled from nearby, snapping Pikachu out of his thoughts.

"[Oh, hello, Oshawott! You're back!]" Leavanny said in greeting.

"[Hey. Did we win?]" Snivy asked, getting straight to the point.

Oshawott posed proudly. "[You bet! I had it in the bag the whole time!]" he said, earning a small cheer from the group in response.

"[Oh, awesome! What happened?]" Pikachu asked eagerly.

Oshawott gave him a confused glance. "[Wait, what? What do you mean 'what happened?' All of you were watching, right?]"

Pikachu rubbed the back of his head. "[We were talking about... er, stuff, so we missed whatever Licki did. Sorry.]"

"[We made extra special sure to watch you, though, so don't worry,]" Leavanny interjected. "[We could never miss one of your routines~]"

"[Oh... well, fair enough then,]" Oshawott replied, shrugging dismissively before smirking. "[Well... she tried to lick my statue again, but then...]" He tried to hold back his giggles. "[...her tongue froze to it!]" he finished, finally letting his laughter burst out as he slapped his belly repeatedly. Something he was fond of doing whenever he found something hilarious, like his bad jokes. "[Man, she got totally... _licked_! Hahaha!]"

Ugh, speaking of the bad jokes... Pikachu groaned loudly while everyone else chuckled, including Snivy.

"[I'm surprised they didn't just freeze the water. What a bunch of numpties,]" Snivy said as her snickers died down. "[Not that it matters, though. Even if they did, I get the feeling that you'd make something of it, anyway.]"

"[Damn straight! Oshawott's number one, baby!]" the otter bellowed, making Snivy smirk slightly.

Pikachu rolled his eyes. "[Humble as ever, I see...]"

Oshawott crossed his arms and huffed. "[Yeah, well... I can't help it if I'm a real killer at contests.]"

"[You're killing my ego, that's for sure...]" Pikachu muttered, remembering why he'd been so green-eyed all day.

Ignoring him, Oshawott tilted his head. "[Say, what stuff were you guys talking about earlier, anyway?]" He smirked. "[Must'a been important to take your eyes off me. Heh.]"

"[...Umm.]" Pikachu worriedly glanced to the side and saw Snivy watching him carefully. "[...Well, about how well you were doing out there, of course!]" He grinned sheepishly.

Oshawott shrugged. "[Fair enough. I was pretty cool out there, after all~]"

Pikachu exhaled forcefully. He really hated stroking Osha's raging ego... but it was far better than being whipped by the now-relieved snake next to him.

Oshawott suddenly looked a bit sympathetic. "[...Well, er, you guys did real cool, too. Those other ladies you fought looked really tough.]" A cheeky grin spread across his face. "[...Not to mention really attractive. Hehe...]"

All of them thanked him, with Pikachu and Snivy rolling their eyes beforehand. The guy could never resist being a flirt...

Still, Pikachu appreciated the compliment. Oshawott could be a cool guy when he wanted to be. Sure, half of the time, Pikachu felt the insatiable urge to zap him, but all the other times, he was a good friend to have around.

"Great job, you guys!" Ash said, walking towards them. "You were awesome out there!" Pikachu and the team cheered back in response. Ash began walking back to the elevator while gesturing for them to follow. "Now, let's all go down to that waiting room, and-"

"_Oh, well look at that, folks,_" the host shouted through her mic, interrupting Ash. "..._we were gonna end the contest here_… _but, due to popular demand, why don't we give Oshawott and Ashley another go_?" Hearing this, the crowd burst into applause. "_Haha, I'll take that as a yes_~"

Ash made an amused noise. "Ah, cool! Well, I guess we don't have to go down, after all." He made a move back to his stand. "Let's go, guys!"

Everyone on the team shrugged before moving back into position, turning towards the arena.

"[Is... that even allowed?]" Leavanny asked, going back to kneeling. "[I hope we're not cheating...]"

"[Well, she said it's alright, so I think we'll be good,]" Pikachu reassured.

"[Whatever works, I suppose. ]" Snivy replied, pulling an aloof posture. "[If nothing else, it's more points for us. Not that we really need them.]"

Oshawott balled a paw. "[Yeah, Snivy knows where it's at! Who can sneeze at free points and more fame, right?]"

"[Well... I suppose,]" Leavanny relented, smiling again.

Pikachu also smiled. He certainly couldn't complain. Any chance to show off more of his contest skills was fine by him!

Eager for more action, he waited next to his friends.

* * *

It was taking some time for the competition to arrive, so Pikachu decided to strike up a conversation with Oshawott, who was standing next to him. "[So... Osha?]"

"[Yeah, Pikachu?]" Oshawott asked, turning to face him.

"[Y'know your statue from the last round? Well, what was the deal with the heart Snivy was carrying? And heck, why were you carrying _her_, for that matter? I'm curious.]"

After a pause, Oshawott shrugged. "[Well... I dunno, I thought it'd get me some brownie points with the host, or something. Girls like cute!]"

Pikachu smirked knowingly. "[Cute, huh? Is there something you're wanting to say to Snivy, Oshawott?]"

Oshawott blushed slightly. "[Aha, well, y'know... I'm just sayin' she made the statue look prettier because of her... feminine charm, and stuff. You know how it is.]"

"[Hehe, so subtle, Oshawott.]"

Oshawott started getting flustered. "[H-hey! What're you implying, Pikachu? She's just a friend! And I like all sorts of girls, not just _her_!]"

"[Hmph. Charming...]" Snivy grumbled angrily, apparently within earshot. Oshawott didn't seem to hear her, though.

Pikachu sadly shook his head. "[Tsk. That's nothing to be proud of, Osha. Girls like dedication!]"

"[What do you mean 'dedication'!? I'm not 'dedicated' to anyone right now!]" Oshawott exclaimed. "[Besides, it's masculine to be a girl magnet!]"

"[Then you've clearly failed at that,]" Snivy replied, irritably. "[The only kind of girl magnet you are is one that repels.]"

Oshawott looked offended by Snivy's admittedly sick burn. "[Hey, that's not true! I could get any girl I want!]"

"[Except for any with working brains...]" Snivy retorted.

The otter was about to keep the argument going, but Pikachu stepped in. "[Guys, guys, please! Don't fall out over silly things like this!]" He pulled a face. "[...Again...]"

Oshawott gave him an incredulous look. "[_Silly things_!? Matters of the heart are _not_ silly things!]"

"[Okay then, Brock...]" Pikachu muttered under his breath.

Not hearing the mouse, Snivy huffed. "[He says when he bloody chases down anything and everything he can breed with. As well as things he can't…]"

Oshawott turned to face her again, now red in the cheeks. "[What!? That's not true at all! I have loads of restraint!]" he lied before crossing his arms. "[After all, I don't chase _you_ down, do I?]"

"[Oh, please.]" She turned her nose up at him. "[That's only because I told you to sod off the first time you tried. If it wasn't for that, you'd be making bloody kissy faces at me to this very day.]"

"[Hey, no way! That was freakin' ages ago, so why would _that_ matter!?]" He huffed. "[Hmph! I'll bet you're just jealous that I'm more of a date magnet than you are.]"

She scowled at him. "[Like bloody hell I am! Me being jealous of your ability to 'charm' women is like... I don't know, a feebas being jealous of a fire-type's ability to swim. It's a load of rubbish.]"

"[This coming from someone who always uses _Attract_!]"

"[I'll have you know that I only use that in battle, thank you very much! Who do you think I am? Emolga the tart?]"

"[She's not tart-y, she's just... playful!]"

She huffed in an almost-amused way. "[I'll bet that's what you say about yourself, too.]"

He flusteredly stomped a foot. "[Ohh, you jerk!]"

Their argument continued, but Pikachu simply sighed and gave up, mentally tuning them out. Once they got going like this, there was no stopping them until they made up on their own.

Besides, it was nothing new from them, anyway. Despite their good friendship, arguments like this were common, no thanks to Oshawott's playmon attitude, Snivy's stubborn nature, and how petty they both were. Heck, he could swear that the amount of arguing had increased since Meloetta had left for, what the mouse assumed had been, some peace and quiet.

Pikachu was really glad that he didn't have a relationship like that with anyone. It sounded _very_ tiring... He would rather get together with someone he could get along with. Someone kind, and funny, and relatable, and...

…Man, dressing up as a girl was really bringing out his inner romanticist today, wasn't it?

Deciding to direct his attention elsewhere, lest he start turning into Oshawott (a terrifying thought), he struck up a conversation with the caterpillar sitting down beside him. Looking at him, he also seemed to be trying his best to ignore the stubborn duo.

"[So, how're you holding up, Leavanny?]" he asked.

"[Very well, thank you! I sure hope we do well in the next match,]" Leavanny replied.

"[Oh, don't worry, we will,]" Pikachu said, triumphantly clenching a fist. "[Nobody here can stop Team Traydem!]"

Leavanny giggled. "[We'll see! Don't become too overconfident, though. You never know when the next expert could be around the corner. That's what Mommy always told me back in Pinwheel.]"

Pikachu smirked. "[Heh, I wonder if you said that to yourself before attacking me out of nowhere, the first time we met...]"

Breaking into a slight cold sweat, Leavanny rubbed the back of his head. "[Hey, I said I was sorry... You looked really tough and scary, so I got... well, scared.]"

Rolling his eyes, Pikachu opened his mouth to reply. However, a loud gasp from Ash stopped him. Looking over at their trainer, they saw him staring at the opposition's side with a shocked expression on his face.

"No way..." he muttered to himself, almost falling off his podium in surprise.

"[Oh, what's wrong with Ash?]" Leavanny asked, worried.

"[I don't know,]" Pikachu replied, looking over at the opponent's side to see what was troubling their trainer.

They were a bit too far away for specific details, especially with the dim lighting on their side, but he could make out a blue-haired girl in a pink dress, along with various pokémon shapes behind her.

He didn't see anything out of the ordinary, so he turned towards Leavanny again. "[Do you see anything wrong with those guys over there, Leaf?]" he asked, pointing towards them.

The caterpillar squinted hard at them. "[Umm... I don't think so? I suppose she has a piplup, but that's all I can see.]"

A piplup? Pikachu looked towards them again. After a little searching, he saw what Leavanny meant. On the girl's shoulder was a piplup, barely hidden behind one of her curly ponytails.

Pikachu scratched his ear in thought. A blue-haired girl who owns a piplup? Huh, that almost sounded like...

…Nah, that wouldn't make any sense. She'd left for Johto only a month or so ago, hadn't she?

While Pikachu thought about that, Leavanny stood up, walked over to the podium, and gently tugged at Ash's sleeve.

"Leavanny?" the bug-type asked, being unintelligible to their trainer.

"Oh, don't worry, Leavanny. It's just... I think I recognize the trainer over there," he explained, interesting Pikachu.

"Lee Leavanny?" the caterpillar inquired, curious.

"Well, do you remember Da-"

Before he could finish, the host's voice blared through the loudspeakers, cutting him off. "_Here we are, folks! We've saved the best for last! Please put your hands together for Oshawott and her trainer, Ashley Traydem_…" The crowd cheered, though whether it was for Ash and the team or just Oshawott, Pikachu couldn't tell… "…_and their opponent, the fabulous Dawn Ray!_"

Pikachu's jaw dropped wide open. "[..._WHAT_!?]"

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED!**

* * *

**Finished:** 10/11 (August)/2014

**Word count: **7,050

**VGS2's pointless notes: **Aww ship, son! The plot thickens! What can this mean for our crossdressing heroes? Find out next time!

**2015 edit:** Goodness gracious me! It's taken me _ages _to edit this bloody chapter, bringing it up to the fic's standard. Maybe even a month! Curse my horrible English of last year!

I'm still not done, either. I've still gotta fix the rest of the bloody chapters after this one, as well as chappie 1. Oyy...

**Shameless self-promotion:** If you review, favourite, and/or follow this story, Snivy and Oshawott will quit fighting and make-out! (Disclaimer: Not really...?)

Also, thanks to the sexy people who supported the last chappie. Ur da bes!

Welp, and with that, I'm off. Tata for now, guys! c:

* * *

**Next up:** Dawning comprehension...


	3. Shocking Surprise

Made in the loving memory of Solid Snake, Lucas, Wolf O'Donnel, Ivysaur, Squirtle and the Ice Climbers. (But not Pokémon Trainer Red, screw him)

**RIP In Peace**

**Edit:** Welcome back to the world of the living, Lucas, you sexy bugger! :D

Not you other guys, though. Especially not you, Red. U ded.

* * *

**Last time on Girl Troubles...**

*A WILD DAWN RAY APPEARED*

Pikachu: "…Is this real life...?"

* * *

**Chapter 3****: **_Shocking Surprise_

* * *

Pikachu stared at the blue-haired girl in disbelief. No way... it was impossible! How could Dawn be here!? Johto was regions away from Unova, so why would she return after only being away for a month!?

Had she returned to take part in the contest? But it was only a tournament for fun, not for glory! Why would she return just to have a bunch of casual contest battles with no ribbons for prizes?

Unless she'd wanted to see Ash and the gang again, of course... though even that would be odd. Ash's friends rarely ever visited more than once, let alone twice in just a few months.

No... it must have been a coincidence. There were many Dawns in the world, so it was likely just that. Besides, the one who was friends with Ash didn't even have a second name, did she? Pikachu had never heard of one, anyway…

He took an even closer look at the team opposite theirs, just to clarify. As he'd noted before, the coordinator was a blue-haired girl in a pink dress with a piplup on her shoulder. That wasn't enough, though. Piplups weren't exactly rare, and he'd seen many people who had weirdly-colored hair, like Togekiss' old owner, Princess Salvia. There were thousands of people who fit the description of having blue hair and piplups. That said, though, the girl's pink dress did look awfully familiar, even from this distance. Was it one that Dawn had worn for her contests?

Some of her other pokémon moved into view, so Pikachu decided to study them, too. He was great friends with the mons in Dawn's team, so if anything could clear up this mystery, it was them.

The first ones to come into view were a quilava and a togekiss, who walked up to the girl's side. Dawn had those two pokémon too, so it added credence to the 'this is the Dawn I know' theory.

An energetic-looking pachirisu also scurried out from underneath the coordinator. Another pokémon that Sinnoh Dawn owned, though Pikachu was confused; wasn't her pachirisu a dude? If so, what was he doing in this contest?

…Then again, it was hard to tell with Pachirisu. The spike pattern on his forehead was apparently too long for him to be a girl, but also too short for him to be a boy. Also, any attempts of trying to ask him about his gender had usually failed miserably, so… Heck, who knew? Either Pikachu had been wrong this entire time, or Dawn was cheating in the contest, just like Ash was. Well, that or this girl wasn't the Dawn he knew, of course.

Mamoswine couldn't be seen anywhere, though that made sense. Fitting him onto Dawn's side of the field would have been a nightmare, thanks to his massive size.

Pikachu had to admit, it was looking more and more like the real Dawn... though he still wasn't entirely convinced. After all, where was Buneary? That bouncy bunny was the star of the team! Plus, it would be very hard to miss her. She always stood out in crowds everywhere she went. She was just that bright and full of energy.

Many moments passed without any sign of her at all. Tsk, that probably settled it then. This was starting to seem like a massive coincidence…

Just as he was about to give up on looking for her, a pretty head suddenly poked its way through the team. Looking closely, his eyes opened wide. There was no mistaking it, this was her! She was even wearing her classic orange vest, as if to erase any lingering doubt in his mind.

Pikachu's eyes widened. It really was Dawn. _The_ Dawn...

Despite all the feelings of confusion swimming through his mind, he couldn't stop himself from smiling widely. This was awesome! Dawn and her team were real fun people to hang out with, so he was hyped!

His heart swelled in happiness as he realized something else. This meant that he could spend some more time with Buneary, didn't it?

His grin grew larger. Forget writing a letter, he was ready to chat with her for hours! It would certainly make up for the last time he'd seen her. They'd only ever been able to get time to themselves later on in each day, after the team's wacky adventures had been over. He hoped the same thing wouldn't happen again…

Suddenly, a scary thought crossed his mind. He and his pals may have been flawless winners in this contest so far, but even he had to admit that they were in way over their heads here. Dawn and her team were some of the best contest battlers Pikachu knew, and they were the competition for the next match...

He exhaled slowly. The upcoming battles were gonna suck, certainly. Still, he had to have faith! Ash was a surprisingly good coordinator when he put his mind to it, and the rest of the team were excellent, too. Especially Oshawott, whose skills would've even impressed Nando, the harp-obsessed… er, trainer-oordinator… person.

Yeah, the upcoming match wasn't going to be easy, but they were gonna give it their all!

Suddenly, the host's voice started blaring through the speakers. _"Before the fight of a lifetime can begin, however, we will be having a five or so minute break to continue cleaning up the stage._" The audience groaned in response. "_Yeah, we know, we know. The wait is killing us, too! But don't worry, after you're finished buying some snacks or a souvenir, or two, or twenty, the time will just fly by, I'm sure! So please, stay tuned!_"

After she finished speaking, the crowd slowly cleared out while several janitors went onto the arena with their pokémon.

Pikachu raised an eyebrow. Why did it take them so long to start cleaning up? Then again, this host did come across as greedy… so maybe she'd delayed the clean-up duty on purpose, just to keep people coming into the gift shop. It wouldn't have surprised him.

Well, he couldn't really complain. In fact, this was perfect! It gave him just enough time to prepare everyone for the oncoming storm that was Dawn.

He looked towards Ash and saw him speaking to Leavanny, who was listening intently. Judging by the caterpillar's look of excitement, Pikachu guessed that Ash was explaining exactly who the opposite side was.

Looking over to his other companions, he saw Snivy and Oshawott with their backs angrily turned to one another and their arms crossed. It seemed that they were still salty about their earlier argument.

This was pretty normal for their disputes. Heck, it happened so commonly lately that Pikachu liked to think of this stage of their fights as their version of cuddling. It was probably the closest they would ever get from each other, anyway...

This part of their arguments didn't usually last more than ten minutes before one of them apologized, but they didn't have time for that! As soon as the break was over, it was show time!

Deciding that they'd had enough time to seethe, Pikachu grasped Oshawott's paw and gently pulled him away, hoping to speak to him in an area with a less moody atmosphere.

Not expecting the sudden movement, however, Snivy stumbled and ungracefully toppled over. "[Ah!]" she cried out before hitting the ground.

Seeing Snivy on her back, Oshawott angrily broke away from Pikachu's hold. "[H-_hey_, what's the big idea, Pikachu!?]" he yelled, hurriedly moving over to help her up.

Pikachu rubbed the back of his head. "[Oh, um, eheh, sorry, Snivy. I didn't know you were both leaning against each other like that...]"

Oshawott offered a helping paw to Snivy, which she rejected, seemingly out of irritation. "[Ugh, I've lost enough dignity for one day, thank you very much. I can-]" She jumped back up onto her feet. "[-handle myself.]"

The otter went back to crossing his arms in irritation. "[_Hmmph_! Fine then...]"

She sighed, but then smiled afterwards. "[...But your kindness is very appreciated, so thanks, Wott.]"

They were onto affectionate nicknames now? Even after their massive argument from earlier? Wow... Pikachu wondered if he should try pulling them apart more often.

Not expecting the sudden compassion, Oshawott became flustered. "[O-oh, well, y'know... chivalry should be the first priority of every man, so don't mention it!]" he boasted, posing proudly.

Her smile grew slightly. "[Heh...]" Her smile quickly changed into a glare as she turned to face Pikachu. "[More than what can be said for you, though. What's your bloody game?]"

"[Er, sorry about that, but there's something you both need to see. Urgently,]" he explained. "[I wish I could've just told you both one after the other, but… yeah.]"

Oshawott frowned. "[Well, what's so urgent that you had to drag me away from our important debate?]"

Pikachu raised an eyebrow. "[...You consider intimately leaning against each other to be 'debating'?]"

"[W-What do you mean '_intimately_'!?]" they both stammered at once.

Oshawott motioned flusteredly. "[We were just showing off our disagreement towards each other!]" he exclaimed.

"[There was nothing even remotely intimate about it,]" Snivy added, frowning.

Pikachu gave a comedic shrug. "[If you say so…]"

Oshawott crossed his arms and huffed loudly. "[Well, what do you want, anyway?]"

"[After that, it'd better be important, unless you want a bloody belting,]" Snivy remarked, also crossing her arms while giving Pikachu a dirty look.

"[I'm pretty sure it is,]" Pikachu responded before pointing towards Dawn's team. "[Do you see anything strange with the team over there?]"

The unlikely couple stopped scowling at the mouse and looked towards the opposition.

After a few seconds, Oshawott spoke up. "[Umm... no? What's up with 'em?]"

"[Hm, I can't say I see where you're coming from either, Pikachu,]" Snivy added.

"[Take a look at her piplup and you'll see what I mean,]" Pikachu said, pointing towards Dawn's occupied shoulder.

Oshawott took a long, hard look at the penguin. After a few seconds, his face dropped in horror. "[A-are you serious!? Is that...? Oh, legends above, it is! I'd recognize that stuck-up, snobbish face anywhere!]"

Pikachu thought that might work; Piplup was still a bit of a sore spot for the otter. Even after they'd 'made up', Oshawott would sometimes refer to him like he was some kind of mortal rival.

Snivy raised an eyebrow at Oshawott. "[What? Are we up against some celebrities, or something?]"

Oshawott jumped in front of her melodramatically, his face filled with panic. "[Don't you understand, woman!? It's Dawn! And she's brought... _him_!]"

She blinked. Then she huffed incredulously. "[Pft, Dawn? That's ludicrous, Wott. Nobody drops everything they're doing in another region just to come over to a contest for little girls. Not unless there was some kind of big prize at the end, which there isn't. I think.]"

"[He's actually right, y'know,]" Pikachu interjected. "[I don't know why, but Dawn really _is_ back.]"

"[Really now? What makes you so sure? Is it just because this girl has a piplup that reminds you of Oshawott's boyfriend?]"

"[_Heyy_!]" Oshawott exclaimed, red in the face.

Holding back a snigger, Pikachu shook his head. "[Not at all. I looked at her team, and almost all of her pokémon are there. Even Buneary… and trust me, I'd recognize her anywhere. So yeah, there's no doubt about it: it's Dawn.]"

Her eyes widened. "[Truly? Huh, how odd...]" She furrowed her brows. "[In that case, didn't you once say that Dawn was an expert at contest battling? If so, that's cause for concern.]"

He nodded. "[Yeah. That's why I wanted to get your attention. We need to be prepared!]"

Oshawott began to hyperventilate. "[Oh nonono, this is freaking _terrible_! Gah, what if he sees through my disguise when we're battling?]" He began to do a small flustered dance. It reminded Pikachu of Piplup, funnily enough. "[Aww man, he's gonna tell everyone, and then I'll never be taken seriously again, and then I'll have to leave the country, and then-]"

"[Hey, cool it, Osha!]" Pikachu interrupted, patting his shoulder comfortingly. "[He's not here to spy on you. If we play along and keep up our disguises, we'll be fine. Trust me!]"

"[But, but, but-]" The otter's arguments were in vain as Snivy quickly covered his mouth with her hand.

"[Close your eyes, count to ten, relax, and then let's try this again, okay?]" she asked, looking him in the eyes. After a few seconds, he nodded slowly and closed his eyes in response, allowing her to withdraw her hand.

Pikachu was starting to think that it might have been a bad idea telling Oshawott about Dawn. He'd had no idea that the guy would react so badly... though it should have been obvious, thinking back on it. The guy had a bad habit of freaking out if he thought that things were going to go downhill.

In retrospect, Pikachu really should've told Snivy first. She was far better at keeping the otter calm than anyone else on the team was. More so than Ash, even. That said, though, she was sometimes good at freaking him out, too. Especially if he'd found a way to tick her off…

Either way, it could've been worse. Telling him now had been a far better option than letting him find out on his own. That would've been chaotic, especially if he'd found out halfway through a routine...

To occupy himself until their ten seconds were up, Pikachu looked over at Dawn's side of the field. He could see that Dawn was reading something as her team talked amongst themselves. He wondered what she was reading. Was it a book on contests, maybe? She didn't really need to learn much on them, to be fair, but hey.

After a longer stare at the group, he couldn't help but notice that two members of the team weren't joining in any conversations. Buneary seemed to prefer staring off into the distance at nothing in particular, which was odd. She was usually one of the more talkative members of the team, so seeing her act so quiet like this was strange...

…Well, it was probably nothing. She was most likely just tired, or whatever.

The other quiet member of the team, Piplup, was silently looking towards Oshawott and Snivy, his expression hard to read from the distance Pikachu was at. He was probably wondering what all the commotion with the otter and snake was abou- ...Wait, was he wearing an Oshawott bobble hat!?

Since when was the hall selling Oshagirl memorabilia? And why the heck was Piplup wearing it? It wasn't any plain, old oshawott hat either; it was clearly based on the one in Pikachu's team, complete with the pink flower and everything.

That lucky dog. Pikachu had always wanted to be on some merchandise along with Ash... and Osha had already beaten them both to it! Oh lord… it was going to be annoying once he found out. His ego would never deflate afterwards…

With that said, though, Pikachu was thankful that Piplup's Osha-hat was mostly obscured by Dawn's ponytailed hair. He got the feeling that if Oshawott had ever found out that Piplup was wearing it, the otter would panic himself into a coma, thanks to his extreme dislike of Piplup. Heck, Pikachu wouldn't have been surprised if someone had to try some CPR on the otter afterwards. Not that Snivy would mind having an excuse to try that out on him…

With that in mind, Pikachu wisely decided not to point it out to them. It wasn't important, anyway.

Speaking of those two, it seemed like their ten seconds were up, as Oshawott's eyes snapped open.

"[Alright, feeling calmer, now?]" Snivy asked.

With a breath, Oshawott smiled feebly. "[Yeah... I think so.]"

She gave a sharp nod. "[Okay, good. Now listen, we're basically strangers to these people, so we just need to act like strangers and then we'll be fine. None of them joined to see you cross-dress, or whatever.]"

"[I guess so... but that jerky penguin's the best contester on the team! Do we even stand a chance?]"

Pikachu shook his head. "[He's a guy, remember? As girly as he can be, I don't think they'd let him participate.]"

Oshawott chuckled at the comment, while Snivy just shrugged.

"[Girly? This coming from you…]" she remarked, making Oshawott chuckle even harder.

Pikachu frowned. "[Hey! Knock it off, ya jerk.]"

She smirked. "[Alright, sorry. Continue.]"

He rolled his eyes. "[Anyway… I'm guessing he's just there to watch, so don't sweat it, we'll be alri-...]" He trailed off as he remembered something. Piplup may not have been competing this time… but Buneary was! And she was just as good, if not better when it came to contests.

She was energetic, skilled, and very passionate about contest battling. Not to mention her almost perfect precision when it came to using her Ice Beam. She was an amazing pokémon with an amazing coordinator to match... Oh dear.

Oshawott's face took on a worried look as Pikachu continued to pause. "[W-what's wrong?]"

After a few seconds of thought, Pikachu shook his head again. "[Er, nothing, Osha. They're tough, but so are we! We just need to do our best!]" he said, pumping his fist triumphantly.

Snivy gave him a strange look before shaking her head dismissively. Then she turned towards Oshawott. "[He's right, we'll be fine. Hell, I'm sure your skills alone will carry us through.]"

"[…Yeah, you're right!]" Oshawott replied, giving a massive grin. "[Nothing can stop my manliness! Not even Piplup and his team of evil!]"

Pikachu's ears drooped. "[Umm, I have friends on that team, you know...]"

"[Err... mild evil!]" Oshawott corrected.

Pikachu rolled his eyes and nodded in agreement. Mild agreement.

"[Hello, friends~]" an effeminate voice called out suddenly.

The small group looked towards the source of the greeting to see Leavanny waving towards them happily, which earned him some greetings back.

"[Ooh, you'll never guess what Ash just told me~!]" the caterpillar said, trembling in excitement.

"[Oh, what did you find out, Leavanny?]" Pikachu asked curiously.

Snivy smirked. "[Lemmie guess. Is it something to do with Dawn's team?]"

"[It... Oh, err, yes it is,]" Leavanny replied, taken aback. "[Aww, and I was hoping to surprise you, too. How did you know?]"

"[Pikachu recognized them after he saw his girlfriend!]" Oshawott said, smiling.

"[G-girlfriend!?]" Pikachu spluttered. "[Come on, Oshawott, we're close but we're not _that_ close!]"

Oshawott looked confused. "[You aren't? Well then, why did she snuggle up next to you last time Dawn was here, when she had a perfectly good oshawott around to keep her company?]"

"[Oh, I can think of plenty of bloody reasons…]" Snivy muttered.

He frowned. "[…Hey…! What's that supposed to-?]"

"[_Anyway_!]" Pikachu cut in, not wanting another pointless argument. "[Me and Buneary are real good friends, so of course she was excited to see me after so long!]" He shrugged. "[Besides, she's always finding an excuse to do stuff like that. She likes being affectionate towards her friends.]"

"[Yes, there's nothing wrong with being affectionate, Oshawott,]" Leavanny added. "[Just look at me: I love you all very much, but that doesn't mean I want to court you. Er, no offense, of course...]"

Pikachu smiled. "[Wow, Leavanny. That's the nicest, least sarcastic thing I've heard anyone say all day.]"

Leavanny also smiled. "[Well, it's true! You're my best friends, and I wouldn't give any of you up for the world.]"

Oshawott chuckled. "[Sounds like something Ash would say. Heck, add a few food puns, and I think that'd be up Cilan's street, too.]"

Leavanny giggled, covering his mouth. "[I suppose so, huh? Still, it's very true, all the same~]"

Everyone in the group smiled at that. However, something occurred to Pikachu soon afterwards. "[I'm surprised, though. You usually jump straight to the call when telling pokémon to 'follow their heart', and other romantic stuff like that.]"

Leavanny blushed and grinned sheepishly. "[Ehehe, well, I think I've learned my lesson about saying things like that...]" he said, bashfully scratching the back of his head. "[...Although, I could if you wa-]"

"[N-no, that's quite alright, thanks!]" Pikachu interrupted, disappointing Leavanny. "[...But yeah. While she's a real lovely lady, I don't think she's into me that way. If she was, I think I would have found out by now...]"

"[Heh. Such denial...]" Snivy quietly murmured to herself.

He felt his eye twitch. The hypocrisy was off the charts...

Oshawott gave a wily smirk. "[Well, if you don't want her, then I could always ask her if-]" He stopped mid-sentence as he noticed the dirty look Snivy was giving him. "[...Er, never mind.]"

Pikachu chuckled. "[Yeah, nice try, Osha. Besides, I don't think she's into flirty pokémon.]" Memories of a certain pseudo-legendary water-type flashed through Pikachu's mind. "[...Trust me.]"

The otter grumbled in response, but said nothing else.

"[Say, perhaps you'll be able to talk to Buneary after the contest, Pikachu?]" Leavanny suggested. "[I'm hoping to catch up with my friends too, once we've finished.]" He turned his head away slightly. "[Especially Princess Toge…-]" he mumbled, trailing off.

Snivy tilted her head. "[…What was that last bit?]"

He snapped to attention, forcing a smile. "[Nothing!]"

Everyone raised an eyebrow at him.

"[That… didn't sound like nothing,]" Pikachu remarked.

A bead of sweat dripped down the caterpillar's head. "[Yes, well, er...]" He cleared his throat. "[…Oh, yes, I was just wondering how amused they'll all be once we tell them about our disguises! Haha, it'll be so… amusing!]"

"[_What_?]" Oshawott cried suddenly. "[Oh no, don't do anything like that!]"

Leavanny flinched. "[Eep! W-why ever not, Oshawott?]"

"[I don't want them to find out that we're dressing up as girls!]"

Leavanny's antennae drooped. "[O-oh… even if it was just me they knew about? And I only told one other person who's nice and kind?]"

Oshawott rapidly shook his head. "[No way! If _anyone_ finds out who you are, then that guy will tell everyone else, then they'll work out who _I_ am, and then Piplup will know, and then I'll never live it down!]" the drama-type otter rambled semi-coherently.

"[…So basically, because you're a paranoid bugger?]" Snivy remarked, rolling her eyes.

"[I am _not_ a paranoid bugger!]" he replied defensively. "[It's totally something that could happen! No, _would_ happen!]"

"[Paranoid bugger…!]" she repeated, a slight whimsical edge to her tone.

He huffed, sounding slightly less annoyed than Pikachu expected him to be. "[Yeah, well… being paranoid's better than being caught. So yeah, don't tell 'em!]"

Leavanny sighed. "[Well... okay then. If it will make you happy, I'll stay covert, I suppose.]"

Pikachu exhaled through his nose. "[I _was_ looking forward to chatting with 'em again… but I guess it can wait. Something tells me that we'll be getting a proper visit from them soon, anyway.]"

"[What makes you say that, Pikachu?]" Leavanny asked.

"[Well, we've always had a habit of bumping into old friends. Whenever they stray out of the region we met them in, it's usually to meet up with Ash again.]" Even though it wasn't often that it happened twice in a row...

"[Really? Oh, well that's nice then!]" Leavanny replied, seemingly brightening up again.

"[So you're both good on not talking to 'em, then?]" Oshawott asked, receiving nods in response. "[Alright, cool. Thanks, guys!]" He turned to face Snivy. "[Same goes for you, right? You're not thinking of talking to them either… Er, right?]" he asked.

"[Not at all,]" she said, shrugging in an aloof way. "[Honestly, I wasn't planning on doing it anyway, but you have my word, too. Anything to stop your bloody whining...]"

Oshawott breathed a sigh of relief. "[Alright, that's cool... but I'm not whining.]"

"[My headache says otherwise,]" she remarked, making Pikachu chuckle.

Oshawott huffed and opened his mouth to respond. However, whatever comeback he was about to make was stilted by the host's voice, which blared through the loudspeakers. "_Okay, everyone, places! The contest's about to continue_!"

"[Well, looks like it's time. Everyone good to go?]" Pikachu asked, looking towards his teammates.

"[Ready, captain~]" Leavanny said, smiling.

"[Mmhmm,]" Snivy murmured.

"[Totally!]" Oshawott hollered, hot-bloodedly balling a paw. "[I'm gonna knock the crowd dead with my awesome skills!]"

"[…Figuratively, I hope,]" Pikachu muttered, jokingly.

"['Course! I'm no murderer.]" He paused before tapping his chin. "[That said, Piplup does technically count as the crowd, so…]"

"[You're not murdering Piplup, Wott,]" Snivy chided.

"[Aww…]"

Rolling his eyes, Pikachu smirked confidently. "[Anyway, I'm ready, too, so let's make Ash proud!]" he called, pumping a fist.

His friends responded with a small cheer before making their way towards Ash, ready to see who would be the first to tackle Dawn's surprise challenge.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED!**

* * *

**Finished:** 10/10 (October)/2014

**Word count:** 4,108

**VGS2's pointless notes:** Oh my lord, you guys. This and the next two chapters were originally gonna just be one long chappie. However, I'm notorious for getting carried away, so after getting to 6000+ words and still not even being halfway close to finishing... yeah, it was time for a bit of a split up. :S

It's alright, though. Having many small chapters is better than having a few mega-ass chapters!

Also, speaking of 'Mega', have you guys played the sm4sh demo yet, if not the actual game? If so, how in hell's holy name do I use Leaf Shield properly? It's more useless than in the game it came from!  
And no, before you tell me to do so, I refuse to give in to the siren's call that is Skull Shield and Plant Barrier! What is this, Luigi's Mansion: Pikmin edition? Seriously now.

Also, no fabulously pink, Quick Boomerang-styled costume for Mega Man? Really!? Sm4sh ruined forever, Mega Mang bottom-tier, Game Over: Return of Wily, Sakurai confirmed for Satan, etcetc.

Bollocks, what fanfiction was this author's note for, again? All I know is that the lovely ravengal helped out with it a lot, especially with this chapter...  
Eh, doesn't matter, got sm4sh.

**2015 edit: **Man, this chapter used to be boring. Nothing happened! Still, 'twas needed to set the scene, I guess. Either way, I hope I made it less boring for you guys!

Also, none of you guys have given any tips on Leaf Shield yet. Shame on you! Now I'll never impress Wood M'n senpai…

**Shameless Self-promotion:** Every time you review, favourite, and/or follow this story, another Robot Master learns how to love! (Disclaimer: Not really)

Welp, and with that, I'm off to stop that Doctah Wahwee. Tata for now, guys! c:

* * *

**Next up:** Dawn of a new battle.


	4. Feminine Face-off

**Last time on Girl Troubles Z...**

Pikachu: "It's Dawn!"

Everyone: "Say whaaaaaaaaaa-"

* * *

**Chapter 4**: _Feminine Face-off_

* * *

Pikachu watched from the sidelines as Leavanny stood on the arena, staring down his opponent, Pachirisu.

Oshawott may have been the trump card for the team, but Pikachu still had high hopes for his caterpillar friend. He was very graceful, not to mention… effeminate, so he was well suited to performing in contests.

The host flipped her coin, which landed tails first, allowing Leavanny to start off.

After making her way back to the podium, the host picked up her microphone and yelled, "_Okay then, girls... let's begin!_" officially starting the match.

"Okay then, Leavanny, use String Shot to make a big, tall web!" Ash instructed, making sure to disguise his voice in the process.

Leavanny quickly sized up the room before unleashing a flurry of string from his mouth towards the sky. It connected with the ceiling and extended all the way down to the floor.

Once the floor and ceiling were connected, he gracefully danced around, spraying silk in a very deliberate and controlled manner. Before too long, the many threads were woven into a large, crisscrossing web-like wall.

It was exceptionally graceful! Pikachu wondered if Leavanny would make a better ballerina than he did a contest pokémon.

Oshawott whistled in admiration. "[Man, that guy sure has string to spare.]"

"[No kidding,]" Pikachu replied, equally as impressed. "[Such a sweet pattern, too. It's no wonder the clothes he makes are so great.]"

Oshawott nodded. "[Yeah! I should ask him to make me a scalchop cozy sometime.]"

Hearing that, Pikachu imagined Oshawott's shell wearing a little, pink sweater. It was hard not to chuckle at the thought.

Ash pumped a fist. "Yeah, great job! Now, make a pattern in the middle of the string with X-Scissor!"

Pikachu tilted his head at the strange instruction. However, he made a face of realization as he remembered what'd happened earlier in the contest. During a battle earlier in the day, Leavanny had randomly learned X-Scissor to counter a routine that had involved Psycho Cut. It was strange, though. When Pikachu had seen it, he'd gotten the feeling that Leavanny shouldn't have learned it yet… He hadn't been sure why that was, however.

Well, it didn't matter. He was happy for Leavanny! Heck, Pikachu had no idea that the guy was capable of being such a badass! …Um, minus the swearing, anyway. He was past that stage of his life…

…Er, regardless, Leavanny obliged with Ash's command by leaping towards the middle of the woven structure with his crossed, glowing arms outstretched. Once within range, he planted his feet inside the threading and then took several x-shaped swipes at the web of strings, frantically cutting off several pieces.

Once he was done, he backflipped away from the web and made a graceful landing. Afterwards, the spotlight that was once focused on him shifted back to the newly-cut pattern, revealing a pretty flower sculpture that wasn't unlike the rose on the caterpillar's head.

"_Wow, folks! Such grace_!" the host said amongst the audience's clapping. "_My dancing son-in-law could learn a thing or two from her, for sure_." It was faint, but Pikachu could have sworn that he heard some quiet sobbing in the background somewhere after that statement. It was probably his imagination, though, so he ignored it. "_Anyway, let's see what her rivals have planned for the counter_!"

The spotlight focused itself onto Pachirisu, who looked like he-, er, she was raring to go.

"Pachirisu, use Discharge on the web!" Dawn instructed.

The squirrel energetically ran towards the web and jumped onto it. Afterwards, she quickly climbed up the webby wall. Once she reached the middle, she let loose a big field of blue electricity, which traveled through the strings as if they were wires.

A few seconds after he-, er, she- whatever, _they_ hopped off, the spotlight shut off to emphasize the vibrant, blue glow of the string. It looked very flashy! Pikachu couldn't help but worry, though; Leavanny hated the dark, so he wondered if the caterpillar would be okay...

He voiced his concerns aloud, prompting Oshawott to respond with, "[It's alright. The web's lighting up the place.]"

"[True... only a little bit, though. It's still pretty dark. For him, anyway,]" Pikachu replied, noting that Leavanny seemed somewhat skittish.

"[Yeah, I guess...]" Oshawott muttered, thinking it over.

"Wow, such glamour!" the host chimed in. "That move's gonna be a hard one to beat. Still, let's see how Leavanny does against it!" The spotlight turned on again and shifted towards Leavanny.

"[Oh, there ya go, Pikachu! It's on again,]" Oshawott said, pointing towards the spotlight, which seemed to have a sole operator behind it.

"[Yeah, thank goodness. Hope it stays that way,]" Pikachu replied, sounding more assured than he felt. "[Don't want him to start freaking out like you did at the start.]"

Oshawott nodded. "[Yeah, I-]" He paused. "[…Hey! I didn't freak out!]" he argued, frowning at him.

"[Like bollocks you didn't,]" Snivy interjected, still keeping her eyes on the contest. "[If we hadn't been here, you'd probably be in a pokémon centre right now.]"

He huffed indignantly. "[…Would not.]"

"[Whatever you say…]" she replied, grinning slightly.

He rolled his eyes before turning his attention back to Pikachu. "[Yeah, well, either way, I'm sure Leavanny'll be fine.]"

Pikachu nodded. "[Let's hope.]"

Looking back at Ash, he saw him stroking his chin in thought. A few seconds later, Ash pointed towards the top of the webby wall. "Leavanny, make a hanging sign with Razor Leaf!"

Pikachu didn't really understand the request, but, judging by the caterpillar's glowing antennae, Leavanny seemed to get it.

After focusing on his target for a little while, Leavanny let loose many sharp leaves, which quickly flew towards the brightened wall. As they reached their destination, each leaf cleanly sliced through some string, causing several key areas to come loose.

It didn't take long for most of the wall to collapse afterwards, leaving just the section with the flower pattern suspended by only two chains of string.

It looked like a neon sign for some kind of flower shop! Pikachu was very impressed. If he'd tried to pull off a move like that, chances were he would have just pulled the whole thing down and embarrassed himself. Especially since he didn't even have Razor Leaf...

The lights shut off again, but Leavanny didn't seem to notice as much this time, so Pikachu didn't worry about it.

"[Okay, I call shenanigans on that! How hasn't it broken apart yet?]" Oshawott asked, talking over the host's commentary.

"[You wanting us to lose or something, Wott?]" Snivy teased, smirking.

"[Er, well no... but still, it's weird!]"

"[String Shot's super sticky-]" Pikachu explained, turning to face Oshawott, "[-so the string's probably just stuck together. Besides, you're one to talk! Almost every move you've made in this contest spits in the laws of physics.]"

Oshawott took on a sassy pose. "[Oh, this coming from 'Thunder Armor' Man!]"

Pikachu sweat-dropped. "[...Where did you hear about that?]" he asked exasperatedly.

"[I heard Ash talk about it once. He said that you zapped yourself on top of a swellow and you both went all golden!]"

Snivy turned to face them both, a surprised look on her face. "[You mean that actually happened? Huh, I thought he was just talking about a dream he'd had, or something.]"

Pikachu gave an embarrassed chuckle. "[Nah, it's real. I don't bring it up much, though. Whenever I do, people always ask for a demonstration...]"

"[Why don't you give 'em one? It sounds awesome!]" Oshawott asked, looking at him.

"[I dunno how I did it, though, that's the thing! I was just following Ash's orders, and then it just happened, I guess.]"

Snivy raised an eyebrow. "[Turning yourself golden just... happened?]"

"[While riding on top of something weak to lightning?]" Oshawott added.

Pikachu scratched the back of his neck. "[Er, yeah. I guess.]"

His friends stared at him incredulously, making him blush. Before he could explain himself, though, the entire hall suddenly went red! What the-!?

The trio quickly faced back towards the arena to find out that Leavanny's web-sign had gone up in flames!

"[...How the heck did _that_ happen!?]" Oshawott exclaimed.

"[Oh, bloody hell fire, you didn't tell us that your friend had fire-type moves, Pikachu,]" Snivy said, looking towards the squirrel who seemed quite pleased with him- er, herself.

After a pause, Oshawott chuckled. "[Hehe, 'bloody hell _fire_'. I get it!]"

She huffed in amusement. "[Oh, well, no pun intended, of course.]"

Shaking his head in exasperation, Pikachu mulled over her earlier comment. "[Er… no, she doesn't have one. I think...]" he replied, scratching an ear. While he was happy for the distraction from the awkward Thunder Armor topic, even he had to admit that he was confused. They really needed to start paying attention to the contest...

Seconds later, the spotlight began to shut off again. Oh no...

Looking towards Leavanny, Pikachu saw him trembling. It was just as he'd feared; the darkness was bad enough on its own, but combined with the fire? Not good.

"[Oh, hell…]" Snivy began. "[Whose bloody idea was it to turn the lights off while everything's on sodding fire?]"

"[H-Hey, it's alright,]" Oshawott interjected. "[They're gonna turn the light on again any second, then everything'll be fine… right?]"

They all looked towards where the spotlight presumably was, hoping that it was going to turn on again any second.

As the hall continued to only be lit by the light of the flames, however, Pikachu's face fell in concern. "[Er… apparently not,]" he replied.

Oshawott began to look worried. "[The heck!? But why? They usually turn it on again by now!]"

"[I dunno. I guess they must think that it's bright enough, or something.]"

"[Oh, well that's just bloody fabulous then, isn't it?]" Snivy remarked, frowning. "[The poor bugger's going to wet himself if this keeps up.]"

Before they could continue, Ash gave out a command. "Leavanny, use Energy Ball on the string!"

…Leavanny didn't respond. Heck, he didn't even seem to hear what had been said at all.

"C'mon, Leavanny! Energy Ball!" Ash repeated, presumably trying to snap Leavanny out of his fear-stricken state.

It didn't work. The poor caterpillar still seemed rooted to the spot. Pikachu wondered if he was in the middle of a traumatic flashback...

"Uh oh! It seems that Leavanny's in a bit of a bind!" the host yelled into her mic. "If this keeps up for too long, she'll get timed out! Let's hope she pulls through, folks!"

Leavanny didn't seem to listen to her. The only movement he made was desperately looking back towards Ash. Seeming as if he was considering throwing in the towel, and running back to his trainer for comfort.

The teary-eyed look on his face broke Pikachu's heart, so he decided to try and help. "[C'mon, Leaf, you can do it!]"

Snivy nodded and joined in. "[You've got this, Leavanny!]"

"[Yeah, c'mon, Leavanny! Believe in yourself! And believe in us believing in you!]" Oshawott added, earning an odd look from Pikachu.

"Hang in there, Leavanny!" Ash yelled, taking a cue from his pokémon. "I know you can do this!"

Their encouragement seemed to have an effect on the caterpillar. After a few seconds of looking starry-eyed, he gave a determined nod and got back into position, making Pikachu and the others cheer.

Ash pumped his fist. "Yeah, alright! Now, use Energy Ball on the web!"

Leavanny charged up an Energy Ball and aimed for the flaming, webby sign. He was still shuddering a little, but he seemed determined to carry on regardless.

After taking a deep breath, he shot out a strand of string, which went towards the- ...Wait, what? Pikachu did a double take. That wasn't an Energy Ball at all, it was another String Shot! Pikachu didn't understand. Did Leavanny do that by accident?

Before anyone could say anything, the string reached its target and became connected to the web sign. Alarmingly, only seconds later, after the gooey string dried out, fire started to slowly creep down it. Despite that, though, Leavanny refused to detach it from his mouth. Instead, he started to charge up his Energy Ball for real this time.

"L-Leavanny, stop! It's too dangerous, you'll get hurt!" Ash shouted, his pretend-voice cracking in worry.

"[What's he doing!? He's gonna burn himself!]" Oshawott yelled.

Pikachu wondered about that himself, though he soon figured it out. "[I think he's trying to make it easier to hit his mark. If he just launched an Energy Ball normally, he could tear the web,]" he explained.

Snivy scowled. "[That bloody idiot. It's not worth killing himself over.]"

"[Not really...]" He shrugged. "[Gotta give him credit for conquering such a big fear just to do better in the contest, though. I guess.]"

"[Mmm, I suppose...]" she murmured, saying nothing more.

"[Well, still!]" Oshawott interjected. "[That's like if I stuck my tongue into a plug socket to show off my manliness! It's not really ballsy, it's just stupid!]"

...Pikachu didn't have the heart to admit that he sometimes privately did that when sleepy, to wake himself up.

Back in the contest, the flames were edging closer to Leavanny, but he continued to ignore them as he charged his Energy Ball. It wasn't until they were halfway across the string that the caterpillar finally unleashed his attack, which swiftly traveled across the thread, turning all flames it touched bright green.

The ball of energy split apart into several pieces as it reached the main web. Each piece independently traveled separately across the complex, continuing to turn all flames they touched into a dazzling, emerald color. All except for the flower pattern's petals, which somehow managed to stay a vibrant red.

As this was happening, Leavanny wisely chose to tear off his strand of web before the flames started to lick at his face. Needless to say, Pikachu was greatly relieved, and by the way that Leavanny had slumped over afterwards, Pikachu guessed that he was, too.

"Wow folks, such a risky maneuver! However, it looks like the great risk led to a great reward!" the host said, to which the crowd reacted with a large deal of clapping.

"Alright, Leavanny, way to go!" Ash praised, despite the earlier danger.

Pikachu and the others cheered for their friend, who smiled back at them.

It wasn't over yet, however. Dawn had another trick up her sleeve. "Pachirisu, use Sweet Kiss on it!"

Pachirisu brought her paws to her mouth and then blew a big kiss, causing pink hearts to fly out towards the web.

"[Wow, she's so pretty...]" Oshawott said, sighing. "[If she wasn't such a scalchop-kicker, then I would totally flirt with her.]"

Snivy huffed. "[Nice to see your standards are as high as ever...]"

Oshawott frowned. "[She's a little hyper, sure, but you just can't argue with that cute face, c'mon!]"

"[Careful, Oshawott,]" Pikachu warned. "[I keep calling her a 'she', but until today, I thought she was a boy. Heck, I'm still not really sure, to be honest. 'She' could be cheating at the contest just like, well, us.]"

The otter's eyes widened. "[...Er, I take everything back.]"

Snivy stopped scowling and smirked. "[Hehe. Nice to see which team you're batting for, Wott.]"

Oshawott groaned and covered his blushing face with his shell. "[She- er, he looks exactly like a pretty girl, gimmie a break!]"

"[Only to you...]" Snivy replied, making Oshawott's blush all the larger.

Pikachu chuckled, but still kept an eye on the tournament at hand. He could see the hearts begin to envelop the web, turning all the flames into an interesting mix of green and pink. It was very pretty!

...Well, that is, until the entire sign collapsed and fell down. That wasn't quite as pretty.

"Oopsie daisy! It looks like it just couldn't handle the heat!" the host yelled. "This means that Leavanny is the winner!"

Upon hearing that, Pachirisu began to flail around angrily. She continued doing that until a small clump of fiery string landed on her tail. At that point she stopped, followed the resulting burning scent with her nose, and then began to run around in circles.

Soon afterwards, the lights came back on and the sprinkler system was set off in order to douse the flames. Curiously though, only the ones directly above the arena were working; the sprinklers above the spectators and competitors stayed dry. Pikachu guessed that they'd designed it this way to avoid ticking everyone off whenever some pokémon used Flamethrower, or something like that.

Regardless, none of them seemed to be able to douse the flames on Pachirisu's tail. She was running around too fast! Thankfully, before any real damage could be done, Pachirisu ran past Leavanny, who was all too happy to use a thick spray of String Shot to douse the squirrel's tail.

After that, Pachirisu simply laid there, grumpily picking bits of gooey webbing out of her fur. Soon after, Dawn finally managed to recall the now stationary squirrel back into her pokéball.

Pikachu sadly shook his head. "[Poor Pachi. I hope she'll be alri- ..._Hey_!]"

The mouse looked to his side to see that Oshawott was laughing his head off. "[Pahahaha, oh man...!]"

Pikachu felt annoyed. "[Tsk, don't laugh, Osha! She could have hurt herself.]"

Oshawott wiped a tear away. "[Haha, sorry, Pikachu. It's just... that was exactly like some comedy routine,]" he admitted before going back to giggling.

"[Hmph, even so! Tell him, Snive,]" Pikachu said, turning towards her. However, she said nothing in response. "[...Snivy?]"

The mouse looked past Oshawott to see that Snivy was quietly tittering to herself. Oh for crying out loud...

Pikachu put his paw on his face. "[Oh come on, not you, too...]"

She stopped snickering, but her smirk remained. "[Lighten up, Pikachu. From the looks of things, your friend isn't in any serious pain.]" Her smirk faded slightly as she looked Pikachu in the eye. "[I would _never_ laugh at someone if they were truly distressed. Only an arse would do that.]"

Pikachu sighed, turning away. She had a point…

As he turned towards the hall, he noticed that the sprinklers were still going, despite the lack of fire. What was going on with that?

"[Yeah, man. If it happened to Leavanny, I wouldn't laugh,]" Oshawott added, looking over to the caterpillar, who was currently being praised by Ash. "[He wouldn't act all goofy about it, so I'd just be sad instead.]" He stroked his chin. "[If his bonnet was on fire and he was running around in circles while swearing, though…]" He started laughing again.

…Pikachu pictured the image. It was admittedly hilarious. "[Pfftt..! Yeah, alright... fair comment,]" he relented. They were right, really. Besides, he doubted that Pachirisu would remember this for... more than a few minutes, probably. "[Guess I've been hanging around Ash for a bit too long. He's always being the overly-protective type.]"

"[You ain't wrong, but hey. That's why I love the guy!]"

Snivy nodded. "[Agreed. He may be a worrywart, but I wouldn't be on the team otherwise. He's far more considerate than my old…]" She trailed off before coughing lightly. "[…Well, trainers I've seen in the past, anyway.]"

Oshawott gave her a slightly sympathetic look, as if understanding what she meant. Pikachu, however, just shrugged. That girl was so enigmatic…

Wanting to change the topic before the air got too angsty, Pikachu chuckled. "[How much do you wanna bet that Emolga would've laughed if it'd happened to Leavanny, anyway?]"

Snivy snickered. "[Wouldn't surprise me...]"

Oshawott frowned. "[Oh, c'mon, you guys. She ain't _that_ bad! Sure she always uses Attract on me just to steal my food, and always calls me a complete dork, and won't even give me the time of day without spreading gossip about me, but...]"

She raised an eyebrow. "[But...?]"

"[...She's pretty,]" Oshawott replied, grinning sheepishly.

Pikachu and Snivy both groaned. Of course...

"[True love, for sure…]" Pikachu muttered, giving a exasperated shrug.

Oshawott gave him a look. "[Hmph! Well, at least I actually pay attention to hot girls, unlike you.]"

Pikachu raised an eyebrow. "[What's that supposed to mean?]"

"[Hey, ask yourself! You're the guy who ignored a hot rabbit nuzzling you…]"

Pikachu exhaled forcefully. "[Look, I didn't ignore her. It was a bit awkward being nuzzled in front of everyone, but I was still happy to see her.]"

"[Then why didn't you nuzzle back, man? I'd have been all over that if she'd gone for me!]" Oshawott exclaimed.

"[Well, not all of us like creeping out our friends, y'know…]" he replied, making Snivy chuckle lightly.

Oshawott huffed loudly. "[…Jerk.]"

"_Okay, everyone_!" the host suddenly began. "Um, so yeah, as you may have noticed, the sprinklers aren't working as intended…"

Pikachu looked towards them and saw what she meant. They were still spitting out a steady stream of water, almost like a heavy downpour of rain.

"Guess the battle was just that intense, huh? _Don't worry, though,_" she continued. "_I'll get my clever husband to take a look at 'em while we clean up_." As she said this, some janitors and their pokémon walked onto the arena while wearing raincoats. "_In the meantime, let's take another so-and-so minute break! Like last time, please feel free to buy some drinks and merchandise before we start again. We have more Osha-branded gear in stock_~!"

Almost instantly, everyone in the crowd cleared out and headed towards the gift shop in the building. Pikachu wasn't even surprised anymore, to be quite honest. Jealous still, sure, but not surprised.

Not long afterwards, Leavanny skipped over to the group and waved happily, having finally finished speaking with Ash. "[Hello, friends~]"

The team greeted him back enthusiastically.

The caterpillar smiled before shyly twiddling his leafy hands together. "[Um, I'm really sorry about nearly letting all of you down earlier. You must all think I'm a pansy...]"

"[Are you kidding? You did great, Leaf!]" Pikachu replied. "[We're proud of ya for pulling through.]"

Oshawott pumped a fist. "[Totally! You were _red hot_ out there!]"

Pikachu wasn't sure if it was the otter's remark or his own groans that made Snivy chuckle afterwards.

Leavanny looked confused. "[But… I acted so frightened, though. I very nearly pulled out all of my leaves in stress, I did…]"

"[Nah, you were fine,]" Pikachu reassured. "[You were terrified, and yet you still did it. That's real bravery!]"

Oshawott gave a small chuckle. "[I dunno. He doesn't look like much of a flying-type to me…]"

Pikachu blinked. "[What the heck has that got to do with…? Oh.]" He smacked a palm to his face. "[…Not 'braviary', you joker.]"

"[Oh, well that's a _viary_ big shame! Hahahaha!]" he replied, slapping his own belly while laughing at his stupid joke.

"[Hehe, oh bloody hell…]" Snivy mumbled to herself, apparently finding his horrible humor funny.

Pikachu rolled his eyes. "[Well, either way…]" He smiled at Leavanny. "[Great work, Leavanny. You were awesome!]"

Leavanny blushed and covered his mouth with his hand-leaves. "[O-oh, well, thank you! I would've never done it without you, my friends~]"

Everyone in the group gave him a warm smile.

* * *

...Later...

* * *

"Now, Oshawott, use Razor Shell!" Ash instructed, pointing at Togekiss' floating Aura Sphere, which was now watery thanks to the otter's earlier use of Hydro Pump.

Obeying his trainer, Oshawott started by doing lots of twirls, which ended as soon as he threw his shell towards the suspended, glowing ball of water.

The second his shell made contact with the blue sphere, the whole thing exploded into a dazzling display of blue lights and flashes that were not unlike a liquid firework. Or should that be a 'waterwork'?

Pikachu cringed. Oshawott's bad jokes were starting to rub off on him...

After the brief light show ended, Oshawott jumped up and, after a few midair twirls, grabbed the shell that'd boomeranged back towards him. Afterwards, he landed gracefully and ended his routine by taking a bow towards the audience.

To say that the crowd had loved his performance would have been an understatement. Their applause was almost deafening!

"[Goodness. He most certainly performed better against Princess Togekiss than I did,]" Leavanny said, joining in with the clapping.

"[Only a little, Leaf. You did good, too!]" Pikachu said, remembering Leavanny's earlier performance against Togekiss.

The caterpillar had started out well at the time. He'd launched an Energy Ball adorned with Razor Leaves into the air, which had eventually erupted into a large shower of leaves that sprinkled downwards.

However, Togekiss had countered the move by using Safeguard to surround herself with a barrier, flying upside down to gather up the leaves in the bowl of energy, and then blasting the makeshift container with Air Slash. The result had caused a large explosion of leafy confetti, which Leavanny hadn't been able to counter.

Thankfully, Leavanny hadn't seemed too upset about losing. In fact, he'd seemed happy to have squared off against Togekiss at all. Or 'Princess Togekiss', as he liked to call her after hearing about her royal roots, if you could even call them that.

The caterpillar in question smiled at Pikachu's earlier statement. "[Thank you, Pikachu. Yeah, I suppose I was simply 'in over my head', as they say.]"

"[Yeah, Togekiss sure is a tough cookie. How Oshawott managed to beat her so easily, I have no idea...]" Pikachu responded, looking over to the arena to see a very victorious-looking Oshawott being applauded by the bird in-question, as well as the audience.

Obviously, Ash was the one giving the winning commands, but Oshawott always went the extra mile and beyond with his actions, and the fight he had just won against the equally-showy Togekiss was no exception. It was almost like Pikachu had watched a ballet battle!

On that thought, the image of Oshawott doing a ballet dance in a flowery tutu came to Pikachu's mind. Thankfully, nobody noticed the mouse sniggering to himself as a result.

As Togekiss flew back to Dawn's side, the host spoke into her microphone. "Alright, the area seems all clear already, so let's start off straight away!" The crowd cheered in response. "Okay then, Dawn, please select your next pokémon!"

Dawn complied, thoughtfully looking between her last two pokémon. After a few seconds of deciding, she pointed towards Buneary.

Seeing that, Pikachu grinned. He could hardly wait to see her in action again! Unfortunately, it seemed that Buneary didn't share his enthusiasm. She walked onto the arena in an almost uninterested sort of way. How odd...

Well, it was likely that she was just having a bad day, Pikachu assured himself. He had heard tales of her acting somewhat snarky when annoyed (not that he ever got to properly witness it for himself), so it made sense. Now if only Pikachu knew what had gotten her so moody today...

"[What's up with you?]" Snivy asked suddenly, taking Pikachu's attention away from the host's coin flip.

"[Huh? Oh, nothing, Snive,]" Pikachu responded.

"[You seem awfully distant for someone who's 'alright',]" she said, crossing her arms. "[Has this got something to do with the awkward pause you did while reassuring Oshawott earlier?]"

Pikachu chuckled embarrassedly. "[Ah dang, you remembered.]" He went back to watching the contest, where Dawn was currently giving out a command. "[Well, kind of. I was just thinking about how Buneary is like a contest queen compared to Piplup. I didn't want to say anything to Osha, though. He seemed shaky enough without the added intimidation.]"

"[Well, I'm sure Oshawott can hold his own. He's also a contest queen, as well as a drama queen...]" Snivy replied, making Pikachu chuckle.

Pikachu opened his mouth to respond, though he stopped as Buneary started her routine. She began by using Bounce to jump high into the air. As she went higher, she spun around while shooting her Ice Beam, which created a hollow, spiraling column of ice. Once she was at the peak of her jump, she stopped her attack and then landed onto the edge of the corkscrew-esque structure, finishing off with an elegant pose.

Needless to say, Pikachu's mouth stayed open. She was just as brilliant as ever...

"[Besides, I think you're being biased,]" Snivy continued.

Pikachu inclined his head towards the snake, making sure to also keep an eye on the contest, as Buneary started to slide down the corkscrew tower. "[Huh? Why's that?]"

"[It's obvious that you fancy her, that's why.]"

Pikachu groaned. "[Oh no... we're not going back to talking about who's crushing on who again, are we?]"

Snivy smirked. "[Not denying it, I see.]"

Pikachu frowned. "[Tsk, right after you told us to quit bugging you about your crush on 'you know who' as well.]"

She huffed. "[At least I have proof, unlike you and the nosy bugger next to you.]"

"[Huh?]" Pikachu looked to his other side and saw the eavesdropper in question, who was sitting down next to them. "[Oh. Hey, Leavanny.]"

The caterpillar broke out into a cold sweat. "[Oh, um, h-hey. Sorry, I didn't know this was a having a private conversation...]"

"[S'alright, Leaf. You can join in, if you want.]

Leavanny smiled.

"[...As long as you don't go all super romanticist-y on us again.]"

His face fell. "[Aww...]"

Pikachu amusedly shook his head before turning back towards Snivy, catching a glimpse of Buneary at the foot of her corkscrew tower in the process. "[Anyway, what proof? You have just as much as we do!]" he asked.

"[On the contrary-]" she replied, speaking over the host's announcements, "[-all you have on me is vague assumptions which I keep denying. Whereas, you're always gushing about that rabbit with every chance you get.]"

...Dang, he couldn't counter that. Man, this was almost like being a detective who was trying to get a tricky suspect to confess to their crimes... all while being suspected by the suspect.

Snivy looked over at Buneary, who was stepping back to let Oshawott take his turn. "[Y'know, I've seen overly peppy pokémon like her before. I've also seen them fancy others, too.]" She turned to face Pikachu again. "[...Let's just say that I think your feelings are mutual, from what I've seen of her.]"

Pikachu sighed and focused his eyes on the bunny in question. "[Well, if she did like me, I wouldn't mind... but I think we're jumping the bun-, er, gun a bit.]" Pikachu decided to ignore the sniggering snake next to him and continued. "[Someone that super affectionate would never go for so long without confessing.]"

"[Well, what if she's a little shy?]" Leavanny suggested, before covering his mouth. "[Ah, oops! S-sorry, Pikachu. I romanticized again...]"

"[Nah, it's alright, Leaf. That's... a good question, actually.]" Huh, he'd never considered that...

Unable to come up with an answer, Pikachu decided to focus on the contest for a bit. For the past several seconds, Oshawott had been scaling the twirling column of ice, using the same dexterity that he had shown earlier in the contest while competing against Licki.

Right now, however, he was at the top of the corkscrew pillar, though he soon jumped inside of its hollow center and blasted his Hydro Pump downwards, which propelled _him_ upwards. As he rose, his water burst out of the side of the spiraling pattern of the tower and quickly froze, turning the pillar very prickly.

It was pretty cool, no pun intended, but Pikachu couldn't focus on the routine properly. His eyes kept getting drawn to Buneary as he pondered Leavanny's question.

She was very affectionate, and sometimes even flirtatious, sure, but she always seemed to dance around the topic of romance whenever Pikachu brought it up. He had just assumed it was only Buneary being Buneary, though could it have been because she didn't want him to find out anything about her feelings?

Also, she always became giddy and hid her face behind her fur whenever Pikachu praised her... but only when it was him doing the praising. Everyone else who complimented her got a fairly normal response in comparison.

The mouse had assumed it was all a case of hero worship... but thanks to Leavanny's comment, and Snivy's pestering, he was starting to have second thoughts.

...Pikachu sighed and dismissively shook his head before turning towards Snivy. "[Anyway, I have something to ask you, if we're gonna talk about romance.]"

The snake raised an eyebrow. "[Hm?]"

"[If you don't have a crush on Osha, then why does it annoy you when he flirts with others so much?]"

She crossed her arms. "[Why wouldn't it? It makes him look like a desperate idiot who only cares about looks.]"

Leavanny tilted his head. "[Does it upset you because he's not saying such nice things about you instead?]"

Snivy's face softened for a second, though the look was quickly replaced with a scowl. "[Not at all.]"

Pikachu thought of something and smiled. "[Y'know, I remember hearing Osha say that you're very pretty, too.]"

She huffed. "[I don't care.]"

Pikachu's smile immediately died. "[W-what? Why?]"

"[You used the word 'too', which implies exactly what I've come to expect from him.]"

Pikachu gave a heavy sigh. He would hate to see this girl's opinion on someone like Brock, that's for sure. It would be like Croagunk all over again...

Watching the contest out the corner of his eye, Pikachu noticed that Buneary was currently using a mix of Bounce and Dizzy Punch to destroy all of the spikes protruding from the pillar, which created a large shower of diamond dust as a result. Trying not to root for her was a strange feeling that Pikachu wasn't a fan of.

"[Aww, why won't you give poor Oshawott a chance, Snivy?]" Leavanny asked, sounding sad. "[If you both courted, I think he would make for an excellent boyfriend.]"

Snivy fiddled with the purple flower on her head. "[...In the... 'forest' I came from, we had a very special name for pokémon like Oshawott.]"

Leavanny looked confused. "[Um, excuse me, sorry?]"

"[If you can guess what we called pokémon like Oshawott, I'll let you know _exactly _why I don't want to give him a chance.]"

"[Um, 'sexy'?]" Pikachu offered, cracking a grin.

Snivy looked very unimpressed. "[...No.]"

Ouch. Shot down...

Leavanny raised his hand. "[Oh, oh, I think I know~]"

"[Hm?]"

"[Pokémon like Oshawott are called 'cheaters', right?]" Leavanny asked, seeming proud with his answer. After a few seconds, though, he looked concerned. "[Er, not that I'm implying that he would cheat on you, of course. Oh, and not to imply that that you're both courting right now, either.]" He started breaking out into a cold sweat. "[I-I mean, not to say that he _wouldn't_ court you either. I'm sure he thinks that you're very nice! ...But that doesn't mean you _have_ to court him, it's just that-]"

Snivy rolled her eyes and slapped a vine over his mouth, before he could continue digging a hole for himself. "[Yes, I get it, Leavanny. But no, it's not 'cheater'.]"

"[S-sorry...]" Leavanny replied as the grass snake withdrew her vine.

"[It's alright. Besides, you're somewhat close...]" she admitted as the vine withdrew back into her collar. "[Anyway, one more guess.]"

Pikachu tried to think of a serious answer this time, though he was coming up blank for one to use. He sort of had an idea of what she was getting at, though any answer out of the thousands he could give was a gamble.

After a while, he settled on one. "[Umm, 'hopeless'?]"

Snivy chuckled. "[Heh, you're not wrong, but no, that's not what I'm thinking of.]"

Pikachu sighed. "[Alright then, Snivy, you win. Where you came from, what do you call someone like Oshawott, dare I ask?]"

She smirked. "[A complete twat.]"

Hearing that, Pikachu burst out laughing. Well then...

Leavanny went red and covered his mouth. "[Oh my, Snivy! So lewd!]"

"[Well, it's true,]" Snivy said, her smirk gone. "[He's an insecure idiot who only cares about getting a girlfriend so that he can look more masculine. He couldn't give a toss about the girls themselves.]" She turned towards the contest. "[...That's the way I see it, anyway.]"

Pikachu's laughter died down rapidly as she spoke. "[Jeez, the way you talk about him makes it sound like you hate the poor guy's guts.]"

She exhaled softly. "[Not really. He's a complete plonker, sure, but he's still one of my best friends, all the same. Believe it or not.]"

"[Coulda fooled me...]" Pikachu replied, joining in with watching the contest.

In his current routine, Oshawott was flying around the hall while enveloped in a large funnel of water. He was using way more water than Aqua Jet usually allowed, so it was likely that he had combined it with Hydro Pump for an extra kick.

That wasn't all, though. Due to flying through Buneary's ice sculpture earlier, the trail of water quickly froze behind him as he traveled through the air, creating a large, tube-like maze of ice that kept increasing in size as Oshawott continued onwards.

After creating what could only be described as a long, twisty ice-snake, the otter finally ended the routine by flying upwards and causing a watery explosion, which froze into a large, transparent, water-filled bowl atop a pillar. Afterwards, Oshawott happily swam around in his new, makeshift pool as the crowd gave a roaring applause in response.

It was impressive, but jeez, just what were those two pokémon using? Liquid nitrogen!?

Then again, just how did Buneary get a move like Ice Beam, anyway? It seemed like an odd move for such a cute bunny to learn. Pikachu made a mental note to ask her about it sometime.

...Cute bunny? Pikachu blushed slightly and stopped looking in Buneary's direction. Man, maybe that snake was onto something after all...

"[Excuse me, Snivy?]" Leavanny asked, snapping Pikachu out of his thoughts.

"[Hm?]" Snivy murmured, looking at the caterpillar.

"[You know about those peppy pokémon you mentioned?]"

Snivy quizzically raised an eyebrow at first, though she soon realized what he meant. "[Oh, right. Yeah?]"

"[Did they ever get together with their special somemons in the end?]" Leavanny asked, starry-eyed.

"[I'm sorry to say it, but no.]"

"[Oh, why's that?]" Pikachu asked, turning away from watching Oshawott wave towards the audience from the top of his large, ice-pillar bath... thing.

"[...Let's just say that the pokémon they fancied weren't very interested,]" Snivy responded, looking at the floor.

Leavanny's antennae drooped. "[Aww, that's sad...]"

"[Don't worry. Wherever they are now, I'm sure they've found someone better. Maybe...]"

"[I really hope so. I don't like sad endings when it comes to romance...]"

Pikachu and Snivy agreed with him.

"[I just hope that Buneary doesn't find herself in a similar fate...]" Snivy said before looking in Pikachu's direction. Oh brother...

Pikachu shook his head defensively. "[C'mon, Snivy. I never said that I wouldn't date her. It's just that I'd like to know what I'm getting into before I go charging in there. I don't wanna be like Broc- er, Oshawott now, do I?]"

"[Well...]" Leavanny interjected, "[not everybody has to be quite that extreme with their approach, Pikachu. If I ever tried to do the same thing that Oshawott often does, then I don't think that Prin-]" He stopped. Afterwards, he blushed and began to stammer. "[Oh, I-I mean, er... then I don't think that... _pretty_ much anybody would like to court me.]" He wiped some sweat off of his brow and regained his composure. "[...So yes, no need to be extreme, Pikachu!]"

Both Pikachu and Snivy gave him an odd look. Somehow, Pikachu got the feeling that he shouldn't ask.

Eventually, Snivy just shook her head before turning to face Pikachu again. "[He's right, you know. Oshawott's a bit of a tart, so of course he overdoes things. It's possible to calmly ask someone about their feelings for you without making a royal fool of yourself in the process.]"

Pikachu scratched his head. "[I... I don't know. I guess it makes sense, but I'd still like to know more. Even if I didn't throw myself at her feet while proclaiming my 'love' for her, it would still look weird if I just asked her about her feelings for me out of the blue...]" After all, any time that Pikachu saw anything like that happen, it always ended badly for whoever had asked.

Then again, like Leavanny and Snivy had said, those _were_ extreme examples, so... hmm...

Snivy shrugged and turned to watch the contest again. "[Yeah, alright. Fair comme- ...Hm!?]" Snivy stopped, suddenly seeming very distressed.

Leavanny followed her gaze, and gasped. "[O-oh no, something's wrong!]"

Hearing that, Pikachu's eyes were immediately drawn to Buneary, though she seemed fine, thank goodness. It was more than what could be said for Oshawott, though...

He was currently shivering violently while in a fetal position, having just sunk to the bottom of his ice-bowl.

...They really needed to start paying attention to the contest.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED!**

* * *

**Finished:** 19/10 (October)/2014

**Word count:** 6,813

**VGS2's pointless notes:** Oh lord, what could have happened!? Find out next chapter, same otter time, same otter channel!

Also, fun fact! I recently found out that Leavanny doesn't learn X-Scissor until a later episode. _Whoops_!

Well, it's either that or use Tackle, so eh. Fic's officially gone into AU territory, you guys! 0% canon, deconfirmed forever, highschool fanfiction-tier, etc.

Also, guys, ravengal did it. She saved the chapter from being poop. Go and raid her fics with some reviews, plz.

**2015 Edit:** Holy crap, you guys. This chapter's boring as all feck. Why did no one warn me how dull it was?

**Shameless Self-promotion:** If you don't review, favourite, and/or follow this story, Oshawott will probably die painfully next chapter! (Disclaimer: Not really)

Also, thanks to everyone who's supported the fic so far! You're the sexiest kinds of people! :3

Alright, and with that, I'm off to play 1v1 on For Glory. Tata for now, guys! c:

* * *

**Next up:** Technical Difficulties


	5. Paranoid Premonitions

**Last time on Grilled Truffles...**

Leavanny got good against Pachirisu, Togekiss rekt Leavanny, Oshawott was winner against Togekiss and almost beat Buneary's butt, but then he became ded.

So yeah, shenanigans all around. Also, lagoshipping fuel.

* * *

**Chapter 5****: **_Paranoid Premonitions_

* * *

Pikachu and his friends watched on in horror as Oshawott continued to hug his feet and shiver violently, all with a weird expression on his face.

The heck? He was happily waving to the audience just less than half a minute ago, so what was wrong now!?

Thankfully, against all logic, the icy bowl of water he was shivering inside didn't seem to be freezing over. Unthankfully, the otter didn't seem to be holding his breath properly, and that bowl was almost as high as the ceiling! So regardless, things were looking bad either way.

"[What the bloody hell happened to him!?]" Snivy exclaimed, probably more loudly than she'd intended.

"[Umm... m-maybe he's too cold?]" Leavanny suggested, holding a hand up to his mouth in worry.

"[He's not a grass-type like us, Leavanny. That water should be barely fazing him...]"

Leavanny tried to reply, but Pikachu couldn't hear him over the commotion that the crowd was causing. The mouse had never heard so much gasping and worried muttering in one place before.

Despite the noise, Pikachu could hear the host muttering worriedly near her mic. "_Oh, gods no. And the tournament was going so well for once, too... Son of a-_" She paused. "_Oh um, erhem, d-don't worry, everyone! Everything's just fine, we promise!_" For some reason, Pikachu didn't feel very reassured.

Looking over at Dawn's side, Pikachu could tell that she and her team were also worried. Heck, the mouse had never seen Piplup look so devastated before! It wasn't hard to guess which pokémon he was rooting for. Traitor…

After hearing all of the chaos, Buneary seemed to be catching onto the fact that something was wrong, too. She was looking up at the bowl with both of her ears upright, as if unsure what was going on.

"Oh no, Oshawott!" Ash yelled, barely remembering to disguise his voice. "Hold on, I'm coming!" He started running towards the tower. Unfortunately, before he could get very far, his feet got caught on his dress, causing him to go sprawling towards the floor, yelping in pain. Afterwards, he just laid there, dazed. Pikachu couldn't help but facepalm at the sight.

Looking to his side afterwards, Pikachu could see Snivy looking down at the ground while scowling to herself, as if conflicted on something. After a few seconds, she huffed before starting towards the arena. "[Ughh, bugger it.]"

"[Wait, where're you going?]" Pikachu called after her.

She stopped and looked back. "[I don't want one of my best friends to drown to death, obviously.]"

"[Well, yeah, of course... But what about the staff? I'm sure they've been trained to handle stuff like this.]"

"[By the way that they're all just standing around like lemons, I highly doubt it.]"

…Lemons? Well, either way, she was right. Everyone seemed more content panicking than doing anything productive, like saving the otter's life, for instance.

"[Um, d-do you need any help?]" Leavanny asked.

Snivy shook her head. "[It's fine. Both of you go and help Ash while I sort this out.]"

"[You sure?]" Pikachu asked. "[I don't think it's gonna be easy getting him down from there alone...]"

She turned back towards the tower. "[It's alright. I'll think of something.]"

And with that, she ran towards the tower, leaving Pikachu and Leavanny to go and help their dizzy trainer back to his feet. Snivy rarely did things without a plan behind them, so Pikachu trusted her to work things out. Even if she was being a bit of a loner...

As the mouse and caterpillar ran over to Ash, Pikachu couldn't help but worriedly look towards Oshawott. Whatever happened must have been pretty bad to make him do this _now_ of all times...

* * *

**…****Earlier…**

* * *

"Oshawott, jump to the top of that tower!" Ash yelled in his girly voice, pointing towards the icy corkscrew-tower that Pikachu's girlfriend had made by using Ice Beam.

Smiling, Oshawott faced Ash, gave a determined arm pump, and then ran towards the tower, ready to show the world his moves!

Once Oshawott reached the spiraling spire, he started jumping from edge to edge by using the openings like footholds, like he'd done with that sexy lickitung's ice-rock from earlier. However, scaling this thing was harder than climbing the lickitung's statue. This thing was _entirely_ made out of slippery ice, so the otter had to be a little more careful this time around.

He still managed, though. Thank goodness the bunny went with a corkscrew design for this thing instead of just making a solid wall of ice. Trying to climb something like that would've sucked hard.

In just a few seconds, Oshawott was already at the top of the tower. It wasn't the most massive thing of all time, but he was still higher than most of the audience. It made Oshawott feel like a king! ...Well, a queen-king, anyway.

Before too long, Oshawott could hear Ash continuing his instructions. "Now jump inside and use Hydro Pump downwards with as much power as you can!"

The otter took a second to ponder the instruction. Soon afterwards, he got it. He was gonna be a water rocket! Oh, wait until his fans got a hold of that~.

While doing a front flip, Oshawott jumped into the middle of the tower. Once he was halfway inside, he yelled, "[_Hydro Rocket_!]" and then blasted his Hydro Pump downwards, using as much force as he possibly could. Afterwards, his downwards momentum soon changed into the upwards kind, launching him high into the air!

As he rose, he noticed that the water from his attack was freezing right after touching the sides of the tower, filling the holes in the tower with icy spikes that stuck outwards. Huh, he didn't think it would freeze _that_ easily, let alone into spikes. He must have been a _cooler sharpshooter_ than he thought!

The pun made Oshawott smirk. He cracked himself up!

Deciding that he was finished, Oshawott ended the flow of water. He wasn't done yet, however; he still needed to land without breaking his neck! Thankfully, the frozen water-stream managed to create a large, upwards-facing spike in the middle of the pillar, so Oshawott took advantage by aiming towards it as he fell, making sure to do a few flashy spins in the process.

Once he reached the pointy cone, he slid down its side on his belly, though not before making sure to remove his scalchop and store it next to the flower on his head for safekeeping. He didn't want to scratch it! It was his sexiest feature, so if he lost that, then he'd lose his shot at love forever!

...Okay, probably not. He was still pretty dang handsome, after all. No matter what that naggy snake said about him, he would always be a babe magnet, scalchop or none! ...Though he still wanted to play it safe.

At the foot of the cone on top of the pillar, one of the spikes was sticking out and away from the structure like a ramp. Oshawott used it for one last aerial boost before coming down towards the ground, spinning all the while.

Once he safely landed on his feet, he raised his scalchop towards the air in celebration as the spotlight focused on him. Afterwards, the crowd went absolutely nuts over him, as always!

Oshawott smirked. Man, it felt good to be queen-king~.

As the lights brightened again, the otter looked over at his team, expecting to see everyone over there cheering, too. However, it looked like only Ash was doing that; everyone else was just talking to each other and giving Oshawott the cold shoulder, just like they'd done with the lickitung in the previous match.

...Well, maybe they were talking about how cool he'd been just then! ...Pun intended. There was nothing wrong with that, he assured himself.

"_Wow, folks! She sure nailed that landing, didn't she?_" the host yelled through her microphone. The crowd responded by cheering louder. "_Now, let's see if the competition can keep up!_"

Oshawott moved outta the way while Buneary approached the structure. As she walked past, he couldn't help but notice that the bunny didn't look as attractive as the first time he'd seen her a month ago, though he couldn't quite put his finger on why that was. Well, he couldn't put his paw on why, anyway.

Oshawott mentally shrugged. It was probably because she became off-limits, due to being Pikachu's girl. It was a shame, really, but oh well; there were many more delightful-looking ladies in life for him to choose from. Even if Snivy disapproved of all of them, as always...

"Buneary, break the spikes with Bounce and Dizzy Punch!" Dawn ordered.

Without uttering a single word, the rabbit did as she was told and jumped high into the air.

Jeez, where was the fun in being quiet about it? Half of the fun in using moves was yelling their names out! Pikachu had a very strange taste in women.

Buneary landed onto some of the sideways-facing spikes, causing them to shatter and turn into a shiny, powdery dust. Afterwards, she jumped again, though this time, she punched the spikes next to her as she rose. Done with that, she landed on the spikes that were further along, and then repeated herself over and over again until all the spikes were gone, leaving the tower bare, though still filled with ice.

Oshawott breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad that Buneary wasn't punching or landing on the pointy end of the spikes. That would've totally ended in tears, as well as with one less girlfriend for Pikachu...

Once she was done, Buneary simply walked away from the now-sparkly tower while the audience clapped for her and the spotlight awkwardly followed her.

She wasn't taking a single bow, or anything!? 'Passionate about contests' Oshawott's _tail_! That mouse was more biased than Oshawott was when it came to complimenting women! ...Not that Oshawott was ever biased, or anything. Usually.

"_A simple, but effective move!_" the host announced. "_Let's see what Oshawott has up her sleeve for the counter!_"

Oshawott faced his trainer, who was fiddling with his wig in thought. Seeing that, the otter started to worry. He really hoped that Ash didn't mess with it too much. If that thing fell off now... Oshawott shivered at the thought.

Thankfully, Ash soon stopped once he thought of something to say. "Oshawott, use Aqua Jet to fly through the statue!"

The otter nodded and turned towards the tower. As he eyed it up, though, he realized that Aqua Jet alone wouldn't cut it. He would just go splat against the side of the wall if he tried dashing through that!

After a few seconds of thought, Oshawott held onto his scalchop and started running. Dashing wouldn't work... but maybe drilling would!

As he approached the tower, he aimed his scalchop forwards and yelled, "[Aqua Drill!]", causing his body to become enveloped in water as he launched himself forwards, spinning rapidly.

Once he reached the tower, he quickly bore through the wall, reaching its center in record time. Man, he loved that technique! Even if it did make him feel a bit dizzy afterwards...

Satisfied that he was deep inside, he let the attack dissipate as he waited for Ash's next order.

He didn't have to wait for long before he heard it. "Great, now fly upwards with Aqua Jet and Hydro Pump!"

Huh? Hydro Pump _and_ Aqua Jet? Was that even possible!? Well... it was worth a shot, at least. Yeah, he could pull it off, easily!

Making sure that his scalchop was back on his belly, he took position and gathered up all the watery strength he had for his next attack.

Once he was ready, he yelled, "[_Hydro Jet!_]" to the heavens before water surged from his mouth and surrounded his muscular body.

At first, nothing above the otter would budge. However, Oshawott refused to give up! His lack of movement only encouraged him to use even more power! As a result, after many more seconds of persistence, Oshawott soon found himself bursting through the top of the tower, causing a large, watery explosion of snow to erupt from the summit at the same time.

Oshawott didn't stop there, however! As he went higher, the otter noticed that he could change his trajectory mid-flight, just like he could with his regular Aqua Jet. On top of that, the water trails he left behind were freezing rapidly as he moved along, thanks to the icy tower.

The otter grinned. It was time to put on a show~!

Before the crowd could even react, Oshawott was already busy flying through the air while performing epic stunts such as daring dives, spectacular loops, and precise slaloming around all of the ice trails that were forming behind him.

It was radical! He should've totally been born as a flying-type. Then all the _chicks_ would've loved him! Hahaha...

Deciding that he'd wowed the audience enough, the otter decided to end his routine with a heavy dose of _awesome_.

Holding his scalchop outward, he yelled, "[Razor Shell!]" before doing a sharp spin, which made the water around him explosively burst outwards.

The water from the explosion didn't simply just disappear afterwards, however. Thanks to getting the angle _just_ right on that slice, Oshawott had managed to make the bottom-half of the exploding water freeze solid, creating a large bowl which soon filled up with the water from the top half of the explosion.

After a few seconds, Oshawott surfaced from below the newly-formed pool and posed, while causing a little fountain of water to gush from his paws as he did so. Immediately afterwards, the crowd gave a standing ovation as the spotlight focused on the star of the show.

Heh, that one was sure to have impressed the ladies! Well, not romantically of course, considering that he was still parading around as a girl... though Oshawott was quick to reassure himself that if he wasn't pretending, they would be all asking for kisses and hugs in no time flat! As it stood, he would have to accept their hero worshipping instead.

...Man, he would've _so_ gotten '_the look_' from Snivy if she'd caught him saying any of that stuff out loud. She was such a killjoy at times, as cool, funny and witty as she was. It was almost as if she didn't want the otter to succeed in his quest for love! Oshawott only wished he knew why she always acted that way...

Well, at least Snivy's bad attitude saved Oshawott the trouble of trying to ask her for a date, anyway. If Oshawott ever tried doing that with _her_, he would've been rejected so fast that his head would've spun! Quite like the day Snivy joined the team, in fact. The otter had never been shot down so quickly in his life until that day.

Speaking of being shot down, after a quick glance towards his team, Oshawott noticed that, save for Ash, none of his pals were paying him any attention again! What the heck!? What could they be talking about that was _so_ much more important than him being awesome!? Seriously, the one time he has _any_ kind of popularity, and he gets fudged over by his own _friends_, of all people!

Oshawott huffed. Well, whatever! He had a whole crowd of fans down below, so he didn't need the support of those jerks!

As Oshawott turned back to wave towards the audience, he noticed that they were all wearing weird white and blue clothes. Heck, the clothes almost sorta looked like... In fact, could it have been...!?

The otter could see people and pokémon wearing Oshawott hats and shirts, holding Oshawott mugs and dolls, and heck, some were even holding fairly useless trinkets with his face painted on them.

Oshawott stared in amazement for a few seconds before smiling widely. That was... so _awesome_! He'd always wanted to get his handsome, manly face on some merchandise, and now everyone in the audience had some! This must have been the 'Osha-branded gear' that the host had been talking about earlier. He hadn't understood what she'd meant at the time, but he certainly did now!

Then again, all of the Oshawott-based clothes had that stupid pink flower printed on them, meaning that they were supporting his feminine facade more than him... but hey, that was fine with him. If he could forgo flirting with all of the pretty ladies from earlier in the competition, he was sure he could ignore the temptation of trying to get some accurate merchandise as well. Keeping his masculine image hidden behind his alter-ego was way, _way_ more important.

After a small while, Oshawott noticed something else that was interesting about the crowd. Many people and pokémon were holding large signs with messages on them!

Oshawott smiled again. He loved extra fan support! As the host continued to praise him (something that Oshawott also appreciated), the otter decided to read a few of the crowd's signs in the meantime.

* * *

'Oshawott's the best!'

'Osha's #1!'

'You're winner!'

'gr8 fi8 m8, 8/8'

'Even Arceus isn't as legendary as you!'

* * *

Oshawott's cheeks reddened. Wow, his fans were so praising! He was such a lucky otter~.

Eager to see more, he continued reading.

* * *

'2hot 4us!'

'We love you!'

'Your the cutest!'

'Date me! ...Please?'

'You used Attract on my heart!'

* * *

Oshawott rose an eyebrow. Huh, maybe a little too praising...

After a few seconds, the otter shrugged. Well, it was understandable. His disguise was probably so good that even the boys in the crowd were starting to fall for it!

It was pretty funny, actually. He, the suave Oshawott, was even starting to impress everyone from his own gender. He didn't want to return their feelings, obviously, but it amused him all the same. Especially since the fans holding these signs could easily have been girls, if Oshawott were allowed to go into the contest without a disguise.

Chuckling to himself, the otter continued to read the signs.

* * *

'Marry me!'

'We were made for each other!'

'Have my trainer's phone number!'

'You and me, baby, we ain't nothing but mammals. I think.'

'Be mai waifu!'

* * *

Oshawott started shuddering a little. O-okay, this was starting to get a little disturbing. Why were there so many people with these flirty signs? And why were the messages getting way creepier? Even Oshawott wouldn't go that far when flirting! …Usually.

Cautiously, the otter continued reading onwards. However, he soon regretted it...

* * *

'Have my babies!'

'Let's mating!'

'( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)'

'Take ur shell off!'

'I'm not even a pokemon and I'd still tap dat'

* * *

Oshawott's stomach felt like it was tightening into a tiny knot. Just where was everyone getting these signs from? And why were they being allowed to just wave them around all willy-nilly like that? Did they have no decency in this place!?

Taking many deep breaths, Oshawott looked away from the crowd and sank downwards beneath the water, as if to hide from the prying eyes of his many disturbing fans. He was done reading for the day.

As he glanced downwards towards Dawn, however, he saw something that made his blood run cold.

Piplup was happily jumping up and down on his trainer's shoulder while wearing a bobble hat. It wasn't just any bobble hat, though.

It was an Oshawott bobble hat.

...

...**_He knew._**

Oshawott's pupils shrank. He'd only be wearing that if he knew, and if that penguin knew, then... then what if...

The otter shook his head hard. There was no way everyone else was in on Oshawott's secret too... right? T-they loved him, d-didn't they?

Still hiding inside the transparent bowl, Oshawott slowly looked down towards the audience one more time. He didn't see them cheering, or applauding anymore, however. They were laughing. The hundreds of spectators down there were all laughing at him and how girly he was.

Those signs from before weren't sincere. None of their praise was. It was all a facade! They were all taunting him!

Everyone in the audience had known about his real gender, and they were all just playing along this whole time, waiting for the perfect moment to strike him when he and his masculinity were at their most vulnerable.

Tears stung at the otter's eyes. He thought he had fame and popularity, but instead, all he had was mockery...

...Oshawott shook his tears away. No! He refused to believe this! He had a super loyal fanbase! H-he was king of the contest hall! Well, queen. Er, q-queen-king! Gah, this was making his head hurt so much...!

Desperate for reassurance, he looked towards his friends. He wanted some comfort, any kind of comfort to make his heart stop feeling like it was being kicked repeatedly.

However, he got none. His friends were still talking to each other, and Ash was looking towards the crowd, as if to approve of their taunting.

Those jerks! Didn't they care about how the otter was becoming a laughing stock!?

...None of them cared. Not even his trainer, or his best friend.

Shivering, Oshawott held his feet close to his body. He was alone.

While he shuddered, he could see the audience through the bowl. He gasped as he realized that they were coming closer.

As they swept across the darkened arena, he could see that they didn't look human or pokémon-like to him anymore. The only things Oshawott could make out were shadows. Shadows with faces of pure malice on them.

Like a sea of black, pulsating energy, they began scaling the icy pillar that Oshawott's bowl resided on. The otter wanted to swim away, or get ready to defend himself, or even just simply scream... but he couldn't. His entire body felt like it was frozen in place.

He was an easy target.

As they climbed into the bowl, Oshawott could hear taunting laughter coming from the dark, shapeless creatures. He could do nothing but stare into their glowing red eyes as they descended onto him like shadows, clutching at him with their horrible claws.

Once within reach, they began to slowly engulf him. Helpless, he had no choice but to succumb to the endless darkness as his body went numb and his mind went blank...

...

...Also, his feet felt cold.

* * *

**…****Currently…**

* * *

Snivy couldn't bloody believe this. What was wrong with that plonker now? He didn't hurt himself, did he?

While running towards the pillar, Snivy looked up to see that Oshawott was sporting a very peculiar face. He was too far away for any details, but even from this distance, she could easily say that she'd never seen him make that one before...

The snake grumbled. Trust Oshawott to make her worried sick out of nowhere...

Wasting no time, she sprinted over towards the foot of the pillar, where Buneary was worriedly watching the otter above them.

"[Buneary, what happened?]" Snivy asked, catching the rabbit's attention.

"[Oh, er, I-I dunno! I thought she was just finishing her routine, so I wasn't watching for a second. I didn't know there was anything wrong until the audience started freaking out,]" Buneary replied, looking flustered. "[O-oh no, I didn't hurt her by accident, did I?]"

Snivy looked up at the bowl. "[I'm not sure...]"

Hearing Buneary whimper to herself, Snivy sighed. "[Whatever it was, though, I'm sure it wasn't your fault, so don't worry.]" The last thing she wanted was for Pikachu to start worrying about his crush, too.

She quietened down. "[O-okay...]"

Snivy faced the rabbit again. "[Can you reach hi- um, her with Bounce?]"

Buneary appeared thoughtful for a second before shaking her head. "[I... don't think so. I can only go a little more than halfway.]" She looked saddened. "[Sorry...]"

Snivy groaned inwardly, but otherwise kept a straight face. Bugger, this was going to be harder than she thought...

After a few seconds of thought, Snivy nodded and turned towards Buneary again. "[Can you bounce me up there?]"

"[I... think I can, yeah,]" she responded.

"[Good. In that case, I want you to give me a leg-up. I'm going to Vine Whip her free.]"

"[Oh, er, sure!]" Buneary replied, before looking concerned. "[Um, can you reach her, though?]"

...Snivy exhaled sharply. She had a point. Snivy needed to be close in order to shatter the ice properly, or else it'd be a waste of time. Something that Wott didn't have a lot of at the moment.

Unable to answer Buneary's question, Snivy closed her eyes and pondered silently. There had to be a way to get him out of there safely...

"[Er, should I try breaking the tower down?]" Buneary asked. "[Oh, or maybe a flier could help! There's one in my team!]"

Eyes still closed, Snivy shook her head. "[There's a chance Oshawott could fall and break her neck if you did that, and, unless there's a pelipper in the crowd, any flying-types would have a job fishing her out of that bowl without freezing in the process. I suspect that's why nobody's tried that, yet.]"

Buneary's standing ear drooped. "[Oh, yeah. Fudge...]"

Snivy continued to think of a solution. After a small while, her eyes opened as she thought of one.

She quickly informed Buneary of the plan, which made the rabbit smile. "[Oh, yeah, I can do that! Hop on!]"

Snivy nodded and climbed onto the rabbit's back. If Wott were here, Snivy was sure that he would have made some sort of inappropriate comment about this. The silly plonker...

After a few experimental hops, Buneary yelled, "[Bounce!]" and then jumped high into the air near the large pillar, with Snivy in tow.

As they were ascending, something suddenly occurred to the snake. "[Um, Buneary?]"

"[Yeah?]"

Snivy looked at the quickly shrinking floor below them with concern. "[You okay to land properly?]"

"[Absolutely! Bounce lets me land safely from high heights!]"

Snivy breathed a sigh of relief. "[Okay, good. Just checking...]"

Not too long afterwards, Buneary's upwards momentum began to slow, meaning that it was time to put the plan into action.

Snivy quickly slithered onto the rabbit's head, making sure to position herself onto Buneary's rolled-up ear.

Happy with the positioning, Snivy yelled, "[Buneary, use Dizzy Punch, now!]"

In response, the rabbit yelled, "[Dizzy Punch!]", causing her coiled ear to start glowing before bucking upwards, launching Snivy high into the air like a spring.

Afterwards, as Buneary started to fall, the rabbit followed Snivy's earlier instructions by shooting her Ice Beam towards the pillar, creating a make-shift stairway which lead towards the foot of the bowl.

Soon after, Snivy landed onto the icy platform. However, the second she did so, she shrieked in pain. "[_Reshiram's mother, that's bloody cold!_ Ughh...]"

Gritting her teeth, she climbed up the frozen stairway regardless. If it would save that silly otter's life, then it was worth putting up with the searing pain in her feet.

Within seconds (which admittedly felt more like hours to the snake), Snivy made her way to the underside of the bowl that Oshawott resided in. As she prepared to use Leaf Blade to break him free, however, she paused, realising that smashing this thing would douse her in what may as well have been a large bucket of icy water. It would be just like taking an ice-type attack to the face.

...Snivy closed her eyes and sighed before charging her Leaf Blade. This was going to be just bloody wonderful...

Once her tail's leaf glowed green, she spun around once and struck the bowl, causing the ice to crack open upon impact. As expected, freezing cold water poured out of the container's new opening and slammed into Snivy.

To say that it was chilly would have been the understatement of the century. Snivy could feel almost every chloroplast in her body turn into an icicle at once. Thankfully, at the very least, the surge of water hadn't caused Snivy to fall off of the icy platform, although death was almost welcomed at this point.

Enduring the bitter coldness, Snivy reached upwards with both arms in an attempt to catch Oshawott, as the stream carried him out of the bowl. Before too long, something heavy and furry landed into the snake's arms.

"[G-g-gotcha,]" Snivy said triumphantly through chattering teeth. Afterwards, much to her delight, she stepped out of the pouring water.

Snivy ignored the crowd's cheers as she looked at the otter in her arms. It didn't take a genius to know that he was looking very poorly indeed... but he was alive and even conscious, thank the legends. Hell, even the hibiscus flower on his head had survived, despite everything.

It was odd, though. Snivy expected him to have clenched teeth, or to be shuddering violently. Much like she was, in fact.

What she didn't expect was a very wall-eyed-looking Oshawott with an abnormally large smile on his lips. Other than that, however, he seemed perfectly fine.

"[W-W-Wott, are y-you okay?]" Snivy asked.

Oshawott said nothing in response.

Before Snivy could ask again, however, the otter slowly opened his mouth and, in a feminine voice, yelled, "[..._I'm really feeling it!_]"

Snivy tilted her head. Was he making fun of her accent? "[...Y-y-you what?]"

"[It's okay, Paula! I'm a Mr. Saturn! BOING, ZOOM ZOOM! DAKOTA~]"

...Oh, dear lord, he'd lost his marbles.

"[Nippon banzai! Now, prease reave!]" Oshawott spouted incoherently.

Snivy sighed softly and held him closer. "[Oh, y-you silly p-plonker... What have you d-done to yourself n-now?]"

"[Ohhh, banana~!]"

After staying like this for a little while, Snivy made her way down the stairway while holding Oshawott. As she went down, she couldn't help but notice that the ice didn't burn at her feet as much as it did before. It wasn't all that comforting, considering that her entire body felt as cold as a cubchoo's arse, but it was something at least...

At the end of the stairway, she signalled for Buneary to jump up and catch the both of them as they jumped down. Seconds later, the rabbit sprang upwards, allowing Snivy to take the leap with the otter in tow.

As they landed into her arms, Snivy was half-afraid that the weight would be too much for Buneary to handle. Thankfully, the rabbit was stronger than she looked, so she managed to hold onto the both of them well enough, despite how ridiculous they must have all looked.

Due to holding Oshawott's warm body and being wrapped in Buneary's fur, Snivy felt a lot less cold once they landed on the ground, meaning that her teeth had finally stopped chattering. However, her skin still felt like it was cold enough to kill a dragon-type on contact, so it wasn't saying much. She really hoped that the shivering would stop soon…

As Snivy and Oshawott left Buneary's arms, the otter began spouting gibberish again. "[No, Pikachu, you silly goose! That's not how you open a Magnemarmite Gate!]"

Buneary's eyes widened. "[P-Pikachu? What...?]"

"[_A_ pikachu,]" Snivy corrected, slowly placing Oshawott on the ground. "[In fact, most likely the female one on our team.]" She looked over at her group as she said this, and in the process, noticed that Ash, Pikachu and Leavanny were all being swamped with questions from news reporters and irate spectators.

Buneary made an 'O' shape with her mouth and dropped the subject. "[Um, so what's wrong with her? She looks a bit... off-ish.]"

Snivy shrugged. "[I'm not sure what's happened to her, but whatever it was...]"

"[SQUAWK! No dinner for you, Flicky! Quack _QUACK_!]" Oshawott interrupted.

"[...has driven her completely bonkers, as you can see,]" Snivy finished.

"[Oh man...]" Buneary replied, giving the otter a look of pity.

Snivy tried to extend a few vines to carry Oshawott back to the group. However, due to numbness, they could only grow for a few inches before limply hanging to her sides. This day was just getting better and better...

"[Bollocks...]" Snivy groaned, retracting the useless vines.

"[W-what's up?]" Buneary asked.

"[I'm too cold for my vines to work properly.]"

"[Oh, d'you want my vest?]" Buneary asked, slipping her jacket off and offering it to Snivy. "[That might warm you up.]"

The snake smirked. "[Heh, thanks, but no thanks. I'll manage.]"

"[Aww, okay then,]" Buneary said, putting the jacket back on. "[Well, is there any other way I could help ya?]"

Snivy smiled. Buneary was so willing to be helpful, it seemed. It reminded the snake of her story about the 'overly peppy pokémon'. She sincerely hoped that Pikachu wouldn't let this rabbit down. She didn't want to see _that_ happen again…

…She shuddered, and not just due to the cold this time. She didn't want to think about _that_ right now.

Noticing that she hadn't given Buneary an answer yet, Snivy nodded. "[Actually, if you wouldn't mind, I'll need a hand in taking this nutter back over there,]" she said, sticking a thumb in Ash's general direction. "[She's heavier than she looks…]"

"[Oh, yeah, sure thing!]" Buneary said, smiling.

Snivy smiled back. "[Thanks.]"

Wasting no time, Snivy held the otter by his feet whilst Buneary went for his head. Together, they lifted him up and began towards Ash's side of the hall.

However, they didn't get very far before Oshawott opened his mouth again. "[I don't care about Snevy, I care about Fluttershweetheart!]"

Snivy's nose crinkled. That bloody idiot had better get well again, soon…

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED!**

* * *

**Finished:** 09/11 (November)/2014

**Derp count:** 5,562

**VGS2's pointless hurps:** _Oh god!_ Rebirth's out, you guys! Guess I'm gonna have to cancel the fic, due to being permanently busy for the rest of my natural-born life.

Okay, not really, but hey. Next chappie may take a little while, is all I'm sayin'. XP

Other than that, what's this news got to do with Girl Troubles? I dunno, man. I guess when you angle your eyes right, Hydro Pump is basically Brimstone, but less gory. So yeah, it's totally related!

Also, fun fact, everyone! I recently learned that ravengal made a one-shot called Girl Troubles, and it's taken me until recently to find out. Derp!

Welp, time to come up with a sub-title, I guess. I have one prepared, actually, but it's a vague spoiler, so it'll have to wait until chappie 7-8, or something. So until then, prepare your "VGS2 ripped off ravengal, 0/10, unsubbed 4evur" reviews, everyone!

**Shameless Promotion: **Guys, go and read/review the fic called 'Pika and Bun's One-shot Wonders' by ravengal, before she comes over and stabs me in my sleep with a hot cross bun for stealing her titles. Again.

It's a fun little fic that has a large collection of different short stories, all of which have large amounts of Pikachu x Buneary as their main draw. They even kiss in one of the shorts, and have borderline-erotic ketchup adventures in another. That's gotta be worth something, right?

Alright, and with that, I'm off. Tata for n- …Wait. ravengal has just informed me that MewLover54 has done the whole 'crazy jibberjabber-spouting Oshawott' thing already, meaning that I've unintentionally ripped off at least two people with one fic. Buggggerrrr…!

**Shameless Promotion #2:** Guys, go and read/review Critical Condition by MewLover54 before he… well, I actually don't know what he's capable of, but he might do it!

Admittedly, I've never read it (sorry, ML54!), but to the best of my knowledge, it's a fun fic where Oshawott gets into a tragic incident that leaves him hospitalised, leaving Snivy to help take care of him.

Eventually, they make whoopie. That might be a spoiler I just done spoiled, but considering that it's an M-rated fic with Romance in it, I think that's a given. Either way, even if you're not into lemons, I'd still suggest giving it a looksie. Sounds good, from what ravengal's mentioned! Also, it has a sequel, so you'll have plenty to read!

Alright, and now that I'm done trying not to get lynched on ff. net, it's time for me to go now. Once again, thanks for the reviews and support, everyone (especially to you, ravengal, for beta-reading), and tata for now! c:

* * *

**Next up:** Whoops, I accidentally the otter


	6. Delusional Desire

**Last time on Tirl Groubles...**

Oshawott saw Piplup and lost his mind. So nothing unusual, really.

* * *

**Chapter 6****: **_Delusional Desire_

* * *

"[Oshawott will be just fine. I promise!]"

"She isn't dying! She's just… well, I dunno. But I'll find out and tell ya, don't worry!"

"[I-I'm sorry, I don't know how to answer that question just yet. Or that one. Or that one. Or that one...]"

"[No, she's not giving birth! That's the fifth time you've asked!]"

"Nah, I don't think she's allergic to ice. Or heights. Or… water?"

"[P-please, there's no need to call the police. Or the army…]"

"[Nobody sabotaged anything! No, don't start a conspiracy club! Ughh…]"

Pikachu wiped the sweat off of his brow. Man, would the questions ever stop!? The team were getting endlessly swarmed by dozens of worried Oshawott supporters, both pokémon and human alike. The mouse was starting to wish that he was the one that had gone to save Oshawott earlier…

Oh well, thanks to Snivy's daring rescue (which Pikachu hadn't watched properly, no thanks to this crowd of rabid fans), the questions were starting to die down, at the very least. They had gone from being asked eighty questions a second to just eighty a minute. Not that it made things all _that_ easier to deal with, but still, it was an improvement either way.

Just as Pikachu was getting ready to tell yet another pokémon that Oshawott wasn't pregnant, he spotted Snivy, and someone else from behind her slowly approaching their side of the hall, along with the otter in tow.

Eager to see if Oshawott was okay, the mouse quickly snuck away from all of the crazed Osha fans. Not too long afterwards, Leavanny politely excused himself and also made a daring escape.

Ash wasn't so lucky, however. "Er, Guys? Where are you- Uh oh. Ack!" Suddenly, all of the fans that were previously harassing Pikachu and Leavanny flocked to Ash instead, engulfing the trainer in a sea of endless questions, most of which he wouldn't even understand, due to being human.

Pikachu winced. It felt really bad to leave his trainer hanging like this… but Ash was a sturdy guy, so he could handle it. Right now, Osha's needs were far more important.

As Pikachu approached the quiet corner of the hall where Oshawott was carried to, away from the eyes of most of his fans, he paused as he realized just who Snivy's helper was. Oh dear… the mouse was going to have to put on his best feminine impression in order to get by Buneary's notice. She was _very_ used to hearing his voice, especially with those excellent ears of hers, so any sub-par attempts would give him away almost instantly.

Once Pikachu and Leavanny came closer, Snivy spotted them and nodded. "[Oh, hey. Weren't you two helping Ash… ley?]"

Pikachu scratched his neck. "[Ehehe, yeah... We kinda left her to it,]" he replied in as high a pitch as he could manage without sounding ridiculous. "[She'll be fine on her own, though. Making sure that Oshawott is okay is more important than-]"

"[I am _Errrrrrrrror_! I need s_cissors 64_!]" Oshawott interrupted loudly in a girly voice.

…What.

Before Pikachu could ask anything, Oshawott started talking again. "[I am Supperstar! Beware, I hunger for live! Run, run, run, coward! _RAWR_!]"

The mouse was at a complete loss for words. The heck was this guy babbling on about!?

"[Oh, is… is she hungry?]" Leavanny asked, breaking the awkward silence. "[Is that why she was having trouble in her routine? I mean, it has been a long time since breakfast, so…]"

Snivy shook her head before gently putting the otter down, allowing Buneary to do the same. "[Nope. She's lost it.]"

"[Lost it? Do you mean that she lost her shellchop during her routine?]"

"[It's scalchop, and no. I meant that she's gone utterly mad.]"

Pikachu tilted his head. "[Mad? Really? But what would make her go mad?]"

Snivy looked down at Oshawott. "[I have no idea…]"

As Pikachu and Leavanny moved closer, Oshawott spoke again. "[You're writing this story _wrong_! Give me the keyboard!]"

Yeah… Snivy wasn't wrong about him being mad. Not only was the otter speaking nothing but gibberish (in a feminine voice too, thank the legends), but he was also looking very out of it. He had an extremely forced smile on his lips, and both of his eyes were bloodshot and moving independently to one another.

Pikachu shivered. It was insanely creepy. Especially when one of Osha's dilated eyes randomly decided to stare directly into the mouse's soul. Although both pokémon were making eye contact, Pikachu couldn't see anyone at home in that otter's head.

"[Ugh, he's getting worse…]" Snivy worriedly muttered to herself, forgetting that they had company who weren't in on Osha's 'secret'. Thankfully, Buneary hadn't noticed the slip-up.

In fact, Snivy's mistake made Pikachu realize something. For the entire contest, the otter had been super anxious about keeping his masculinity under wraps, so it wouldn't have been surprising if Osha's disguised gender had something to do with this…

The mouse decided to keep this theory to himself for now while their guest was around, however. The last thing Oshawott needed was for his real gender to be found out. Not that it would have really meant much; Buneary was too nice to be a gossip girl. Still, it paid to be safe.

Speaking of Buneary, Pikachu noticed that the bunny was quietly idling around nearby out of interest. Being ignored by her for once in the mouse's life felt strange, but it was a good sign that his disguise was working, so he couldn't complain.

…Starting a conversation with Bun was really risky, but Pikachu just couldn't help himself. "[Hey, Buneary,]" he greeted, making sure to use his female voice. "[Name's… Femchu. Nice to meet'cha!]"

"[Oh, er, heya,]" Buneary replied, surprised. "[My name's, well, Buneary!]"

Pikachu chuckled. "[Hehe, certainly suits ya!]"

"[Teehee, thanks~. Not as much as yours fits you, though!]" Buneary said, earning a small laugh from the mouse.

Despite the situation, Pikachu couldn't help but smile warmly. He had missed hearing her bubbly voice…

From the corner of his eye, Pikachu could see Leavanny smiling widely at him and Buneary. It was a little awkward, though, due to all of the cold sweat on the caterpillar's face. It looked like he couldn't decide between cooing over Pikachu and Buneary's friendly moment, or worrying about Oshawott, so he chose both at once. Only Leavanny…

Buneary looked towards Oshawott. "[Say, your friend's gonna be alright, ain't she?]"

Pikachu nodded and also looked over, spotting Snivy silently pondering nearby with her eyes closed in the process. "[Yeah, we'll snap her out of it. No need to w-, um, be alarmed.]"

Buneary smiled. "[Well, that's good to hear. I was afraid it was gonna last forever, or something.]"

Pikachu noticed Snivy wince as Buneary made the comment about Osha's madness being permanent. The snake was good at hiding her worry, but not perfect, it seemed…

Seeing that inspired Pikachu to ask something. "[Say, Buneary?]"

"[Yeah?]" she replied, looking at the mouse again.

"[Do you have any idea of what coulda made Oshawott start acting like this?]"

Buneary shrugged. "[I dunno. I got distracted by thinking about…]" Her ear drooped slightly. "[…er, stuff. So I missed everything. Sorry…]"

Seeing her reaction, Pikachu was half-tempted to ask about the 'stuff' that she'd been distracted by, but he decided to mind his own business and stay on topic. "[Ah, okay. Well, was there anything that could've maybe… I dunno, creeped her out, or something? She's very self-conscious, y'see.]"

Buneary tapped her chin. "[Hmm… well, I saw a bunch of weird signs in the audience, but that's all, really.]"

Pikachu tilted his head. "[Signs?]"

"[Yeah, they were saying weird things like 'marry me', and…]" Buneary blushed slightly. "[…well, some creepy stuff I don't wanna repeat out loud.]"

Pikachu cringed. "[Jeez, really?]"

"[Yeah. I didn't read many, but what I did see was… pretty disturbing. If a bunch of people said that stuff to me, I'd be pretty freaked, too. Well, unless _he_ was the one who… er, yeah,]" Buneary said, trailing off awkwardly.

Pikachu raised an eyebrow at that last comment, but said nothing about it. Afterwards, he nodded. "[Yeah, I guess that'd explain it. It's not the first time she's been worried about people challenging her... 'true femininity', so those signs must've gotten to her, and made her go into her 'happy place', hence the craziness.]"

Leavanny picked up on the 'femininity' hint and sighed. "[Oh dear. Poor Oshawott... She's been worried all day about being heckled for being a… well, the girl that she is, so to speak.]"

"[Tsk, figures it'd be related to _that_,]" Snivy muttered, giving the otter a look of pity. "[Silly plonker…]"

Oshawott's mouth opened in response. "[No, Bikachury! Don't wander into the forest of mandibuzz hipsters! Nidoran might make you wear the dress again!]"

His statement was so absurd that Pikachu couldn't help but chuckle. He could also see Buneary trying her hardest not to laugh, too, though failing miserably.

Snivy simply shook her head sadly. Pikachu guessed that she was too stressed to be amused right now.

Leavanny tapped his chin thoughtfully, seemingly cooking up an idea. "[Hey, Oshawott?]"

The otter didn't respond, although one of his eyes did lazily drift over to Leavanny, which was interesting, if not spooky beyond belief.

"[What will happen if Nidoran makes Bikachury wear the dress?]"

Pikachu groaned. "[Oh, Lugia almighty, Leaf, don't encourage her. She's acting weird enough as it is.]"

"[Aha, but Pika- I mean, Femchu, what if it helps bring back her sense of stimuli?]" Leavanny explained, wagging his leafy finger in a rare display of smugness. "[Then she might 'wake up' and be okay again~]"

After a few seconds of thought, Pikachu shrugged. It kinda made sense. "[Er, well sure then. Go for it!]"

Leavanny nodded and kneeled down next to Oshawott. Out of interest, everyone else also moved closer to the otter.

"[So, Oshawott,]" Leavanny started, "[please tell me why you think it's a bad idea for Bikachury to wear the dress that Nidoran gave to... um, them.]"

Slowly, as if to respond to the question, Oshawott opened his lips. Eager to hear his response, Leavanny hovered even closer.

Suddenly, a large burst of water gushed out of the otter's mouth, instantly soaking the caterpillar. "[I don't like _roast pork_!]"

"[Ahh! G-goodness me!]" Leavanny wailed, pulling a very disgusted face.

Pikachu and Buneary burst out laughing. Heck, even Snivy was tittering to herself, despite everything.

Leavanny stood up and moved away from the otter. Afterwards, he quickly weaved himself a crude handkerchief with String Shot and a few leaves, before using it to dry himself off. "[Ohhh, so mean…]"

Pikachu wiped a few tears away. "[Sorry, Leaf. You gotta admit, though, that was pretty good.]"

Leavanny sighed before giggling lightly. "[Hehe, yes, I suppose it was, wasn't it?]" he replied before his antennae drooped. "[Gosh, and I was so very sure that would work, too...]"

"[It's alright, Leavanny,]" Pikachu said as everyone's laughter died down. "[I actually think you were onto something there. If we say the right things, we might be able to snap her out of it.]"

"[Oh, do you think so?]" Leavanny asked, folding his handkerchief and putting it away.

"[Absolutely! All we have to do is think of what to say. Something that'd shock her awake,]" Pikachu replied, suddenly feeling glad that Oshawott wasn't able to hear him say that. The mouse could already hear all of the electrical puns that would have started…

"[Ooh, I have an idea!]" Buneary chimed in.

"[Oh, what's that, Buneary?]"

"[Well, back when I was living in the wild with my mama, she would always wake me up by telling me that she had some mago berries ready, even when she didn't,]" Buneary explained before scratching the back of her head. "[…I fell for it every time. Eheh…]"

Huh, Pikachu had never considered that Buneary might have had a family before she joined Dawn's team. Guess it didn't help that, like most starter pokémon, the mouse had never known his own family, due to being bred in a special breeding center.

Pikachu made a mental note to ask her about her family sometime. For now, though, he went back on topic. "[Huh, good idea! Hm, now all we have to do is figure out what her favorite food is…]"

Snivy closed her eyes for a few seconds. "[Hmm, well, I remember hi- her telling me a story about… 'jelly-filled doughnuts', or some rubbish like that. Back in the centre that she was raised in, she'd once found a plate filled with them before scoffing the lot,]" she explained before smirking. "[Heh. Bloody plonker ruined the breeder's tea party by doing that…]"

Pikachu chuckled. Back in his Kanto days, he himself would have totally done something like that, too. He'd been a very naughty mouse back then. In fact, if it wasn't for Ash, it was likely that he'd still be a complete jerk to this very day… It was a scary thought.

In a way, Oshawott sometimes reminded Pikachu of how the mouse used to act (especially before Ash's influence on the otter). Well, save for the whole masculinity thing. And the somewhat inflated ego. And the paranoia. And the thing about wanting to date every pokémon under the sun… Okay, scratch that; the two pokémon were never anything alike.

Back to the present, Pikachu nodded. "[Alright, makes sense. Well, Leavanny, out of the four of us, you have the most motherly voice, so would you do the honors, please?]"

"[Oh, most certainly~]" Leavanny replied, smiling enthusiastically. Afterwards, he kneeled down next to the otter again, though not quite as closely as last time. "[Oh, Oshawott~! I made your favorite food! Jelly-filled donuts! Come and get them while they're still hot!]"

"[The pokémon has a nap. Hold out! Pokémon!]" Oshawott responded, clearly not taking the bait.

"[No, Oshawott. Look, jelly-filled donuts! They're yummy and doughy and… er, filled with jelly!]"

Oshawott opened his mouth to respond again. However, before any more gibberish could come out of the otter's mouth, something rammed into the back of Pikachu, knocking him onto his front, where he hit his head again. Ouch. Why did that keep happening today…?

Suddenly, the mysterious attacker started speaking, sounding panicked. "[Otter the- I mean, outta the way! I gotta make sure she's alright! …Oh, Arceus, she looks more sick than I thought she would! Oh no, this is _terrible_!]"

Uh oh. Pikachu recognized that voice…

"[Piplup! What're you doing over here?]" Buneary asked, surprised. "[Oh, and look; you've hurt poor Femchu!]" she scolded as she helped Pikachu back onto his feet.

Piplup glanced over to look at the poor mouse that he had knocked over. Despite being dazed, Pikachu could easily see the look of extreme worry on the penguin's face, though Pikachu doubted that it was for him. "[Oh, er, sorry, but this is _urgent_! Oh man, oh man, if I don't do something soon, Oshawott might _diiie_!]" the _double-_drama-type cried.

"[Um, e-excuse me, sorry,]" Leavanny said, catching the penguin's attention. "[She won't die. She's just a little sick right now. She'll be quite fine, so please don't worry about- _Eeek_!]"

Leavanny didn't get to finish, as Piplup had moved over and started frantically shaking the kneeling caterpillar by his shoulders. "[But how do you know!? She could relapse at any moment!]"

"[_Wahhh_! Please stop shaking me, sir!]" Leavanny wailed, looking very unwell.

Snivy moved over and grabbed the penguin, turning him around to face her, which allowed Leavanny to dazedly droop to the ground. "[Stop panicking, you nutter. She's just cold, nothing more, nothing less,]" she explained, letting go of his shoulders.

Piplup gasped. "[Of course! How _foolish_ of me! Don't worry, Oshawott! I'm-a comin'!]" the penguin yelled before quickly running towards Buneary.

"[Er, what's-?]" Before Buneary could finish her question, Piplup had somehow managed to steal her vest. "[H-hey! Leggo, Piplup!]"

Buneary's protests fell on deaf, well, ears. Instead, Piplup chose to run over to Oshawott and throw the vest over him, as well as his own Osha-hat. "[There you go, Oshawott! Nice and toasty! Now please get better soon…]"

Groaning, Snivy slapped a hand over her own forehead. "[Oh, bugger me silly… That wasn't an invitation to warm her up, you idiot. She doesn't need any-]"

Suddenly, Oshawott decided to interrupt her through the magic of song. "[Can you feel the sunshine~? Does it brighten up your day~? Don't you feel that, sometimes, you just need to run away~?]"

Piplup's face distorted into what could only be described as pure horror. "[_Oh, dear Arceus_! She _really_ can't be feeling well if she's singing _that_! Oh gosh, this truly is terribly terrible!]"

Snivy stopped looking pleasantly surprised at the otter's choice of music, and gave Piplup a mildly offended look. "[Hmph. Well now…]" she muttered, turning her nose up at the penguin. "[Such poor taste.]"

…Pikachu didn't get it at all. Why was everyone reacting so strongly? The song, while catchy, just sounded like more of Oshawott's crazy talk.

Buneary noticed Pikachu's confused look and said, "[It's a song from a CD that our trainer sometimes plays when we're training, and Piplup _really_ hates it. Dunno why, though; I think it's pretty cute.]"

Pikachu made an 'O' shape with his mouth. "[Makes sense, I guess. I don't really keep up with musical stuff,]" he said, shrugging. The last time he had ever cared about music was a long time ago, when it was making him dance against his will. Good times.

A few seconds later, Oshawott had begun singing about living inside a city of some kind, scaring the penguin further.

"[Oshawott's clearly gone past the point of no return!]" Piplup yelled dramatically, taking a step towards the otter. "[_There's only one thing I can do now_!]"

Snivy cautiously stood in front of Oshawott. "[…And what would that be?]"

"[_Stand back, woman_! _Only my kiss of life can save her now_!]"

…Oh, _dear legendaries_! Pikachu had only been kidding when he'd been musing about someone giving Oshawott CPR earlier!

Snivy frowned. "[Oh no you bloody won't- _Hey_!]" Before she could finish, Piplup had run towards her and jumped upwards, using the snake's shoulder as a foothold to launch himself high into the air above Oshawott.

Snivy tried to extend a few vines to stop him. However, for whatever reason, she seemed to be having difficulty getting any out. Eventually deciding that it was a lost cause, she awkwardly jumped backwards onto Oshawott and held her hands and feet out, grabbing Piplup as he came down to keep him at bay.

Unfortunately, seemingly fueled by his desire to 'help' Oshawott, Piplup ignored her and kept on going anyway, trying his best to reach the otter's face from behind Snivy's shoulder.

From afar, the sight that met the mouse's eyes was… interesting, to say the least. He decided not to comment on their combined position, however. If he did, he was sure that it would end with a vine around his neck.

"[_Gerroff_! Oshawott doesn't bloody… want any, you… stupid penguin…!]" Snivy grunted, trying to push Piplup away.

"[I'm the only one who can save her! _You will not stop me_!]" Piplup yelled, starting to overpower the snake.

Eventually, Leavanny, who'd only recently recovered from being shaken silly, joined the struggle by grabbing Piplup's waist and trying to hoist him away. The penguin didn't give in, however; if anything, it only encouraged him to try and kiss Oshawott harder.

"[P-please stop! I don't think that she would… like it…]" Leavanny said, straining against Piplup.

"[_Piplup_! Stop being so creepy!]" Buneary shouted, hopping over to help Snivy and Leavanny. "[Can't you see that you're not helping?]"

"[Of course I'm helping! _Only I can save her now_!]" Piplup yelled, too wrapped up in his ego to care. At this point, it was getting hard to tell which water-type was the crazier one.

Buneary moved under Leavanny and pulled at Piplup's flippers. Amazingly, however, the penguin _still_ refused to budge. How could he be this strong!?

"[Don't… worry, Oshawott…! I'll save you!]" Piplup grunted through his clenched beak. Pikachu was starting to get the feeling that the penguin had forgotten why this kiss was so important to him.

Feeling much less dazed, Pikachu finally gathered his senses and ran over to help the team, before Oshawott could be literally pecked on the mouth. However, instead of grabbing the penguin, the mouse thought of something else and ran over to Piplup's side. "[Piplup, cut it out! If you do this, she'll think that you're a creepy pokémon and hate you for life!]"

The penguin froze as horrified comprehension spread across his face. Bingo! "[Oh nonono, you're right! That's _terrible_! I-I mean, I wanna save her life, but I don't wanna give off the wrong impression either! Ohhh, what should I do!?]"

Pikachu put a hand on the penguin's shoulder. "[Well, it's easy. Just let us-]"

Before Pikachu could finish, however, Oshawott started speaking again. "[I'm a _frieeeeendly_ lickitung~!]"

Piplup looked confused. "[Er, what does that-?]"

Oshawott didn't let the penguin finish. Before anyone could stop him, the otter reached forwards and affectionately licked Piplup on the beak.

…It was the most glorious mixture of emotions that Pikachu had ever seen, both from the penguin and everyone else.

Pikachu started laughing, Buneary groaned and shook her head amusedly, Leavanny broke out into a cold sweat while trying his hardest not to smile, Snivy looked somewhat horrified, Oshawott went back into his quiet-crazy mode, and Piplup basically malfunctioned on the spot.

"[_Gwarrgghhkksladkjla_!]" Piplup yelled out incomprehensibly, with a massive blush on his face. Afterwards, he became completely unresponsive.

Seeing as the penguin had lost all functionality in his everything, Leavanny was now easily able to pick him up, though it was a bit of a lost cause by this point.

"[Ughh, that complete _idiot,_]" Snivy angrily grumbled to herself as she climbed off Oshawott. Pikachu wasn't entirely sure which water-type she was referring to.

Leavanny placed Piplup down on the ground, where the penguin continued to shiver in… whatever emotion he was currently experiencing.

Buneary stood next to him with her paws on her fluffy hips. "[Oh, Piplup, you big dummy,]" she said, sighing. Afterwards she turned towards everyone else. "[I'm so, _so_ sorry about him, everyone...]"

Pikachu picked up Buneary's vest and Piplup's hat, which were still haphazardly strewn across Oshawott, and walked over to the bunny. "[It's alright, Buneary. At least we know now that a kiss won't wake her up. Eheh…]"

Buneary giggled. "[Teehee! True enough, I guess.]"

Leavanny smiled down at the rabbit. "[Thank you ever so much for all of your help, miss!]"

Buneary smiled back. "[No problem~]"

The three pokémon stayed like that for a little while. Afterwards, Buneary turned to get her vest and Piplup's hat back from Pikachu, who happily handed them over.

"[Well, I guess I'd better get Piplup back to Dawn…]" Buneary said, looking at the penguin. "[Do you want me to do anything else for ya before I head off?]"

"[Nah, you're good,]" Pikachu said, patting the bunny on her still vest-less back. "[We can handle it from… here…]" …Oh, man, she had such a muscular back. Pikachu wasn't expecting her to be so buff!

…Gah! Now was not a good time for the mouse to be blushing! He tried to cover it up by posing in what he hoped wasn't too awkward a posture, with his hands over the offending flush. "[U-um, so yeah. All's good-]" _Oh darn, he'd forgotten to disguise his voice_!

As Pikachu feared, Buneary didn't miss it. Her coiled ear sprang up, and she suddenly seemed very shocked. Oh… crud.

"[H-huh!? W-w-what did you say?]" she asked, staring wide-eyed at the now-panicked mouse.

"[O-oh, um, erhmm, s-silly me!]" Pikachu hastily replied, using his feminine voice again. "[S-sorry. When… stressful stuff happens, my voice goes super deep, sometimes. Heck, some even say that I start sounding like a boy! Ahahaha…!]"

Buneary studied him _very_ closely. Trying not to nervously squirm under her gaze, Pikachu wiggled his tail, desperately hoping that her eyes would be drawn to its heart-shaped tip. By now it was probably hopeless, but it was worth a try.

Quickly glancing to the side, Pikachu noticed that Leavanny and Snivy were both worriedly watching the conversation. Their worry was nothing compared to Pikachu's, however; his heart was pounding against his ribcage!

After many suspenseful seconds, Buneary looked away as her ear rolled up again, causing everyone to quietly breathe a sigh of relief. Oh, _thank Ho-Oh_! Mew only knows how awkward that could have been...

"[Er, eheh, yeah, makes sense I guess,]" Buneary replied, embarrassedly.

"[Oh, was something wrong?]" Pikachu asked, trying to play it cool.

Buneary slipped her vest back on. "[Nahh, it's okay. It's just that you reminded me of someone I really…]" She stopped and looked at the ground, her standing ear drooping noticeably. "[…Never mind...]"

The response surprised Pikachu. What was that all about? Who could she have been reminded of, and why was the memory upsetting her so much? She was so cheery just a few moments ago, so it must have been pretty bad to make her become so dejected…

Before the mouse could question her about anything, though, Buneary picked Piplup up off the ground and started towards Dawn's side of the hall. "[Er, s-so yeah. Buh-bye, guys!]" she said before quickly hopping away.

"[Er… bye?]" Pikachu replied, confused beyond belief. "[And, er, thanks again for the help!]"

Buneary didn't respond back.

* * *

**To be continued…**

* * *

**Finished:** 30/11 (November)/2014

**Word count:** 4,265

**VGS2's pointless notes: ** Oh dear, what could be the matter with Pika's lagofriend?

Oh well, I'm sure she'll be fine! Unlike Piplup...

**Shameless Self-Promotion: **If you don't review, favourite, and/or follow this story, Piplup will kiss you! Unless you want him to kiss you, in which case, he won't. (Disclaimer: Not really, in both cases.)

And, of course, thanks to all the sexy people who've shown their support for me and my story so far. Piplup likes you the most! :D (Platonically)

Alrighty, and with that, I'm done. Tata for now! c:


	7. Capped Consciousness

**Last time on Girl Turtles...**

A new shipping was born! Also, Buneary is a sad bunny, for some reason.

* * *

**Chapter 7****: **_Capped Consciousness  
_

* * *

Pikachu's ears drooped as he watched Buneary quickly hop back to Dawn, with Piplup still lying out of commission in her arms.

Drat. Even though Pikachu wasn't caught, things still ended badly, and he didn't even know why. Such a shame…

Also, why did Bun's saddened voice remind Pikachu of someone…?

"[Oh… what was wrong with Buneary?]" Leavanny asked. "[She sounded so sad...]"

"[Dunno. I hope she's alright…]" Pikachu replied, watching the rabbit hop away.

"[Maybe she simply misses you? And hearing your voice reminded her of you?]"

Pikachu shrugged. "[Maybe… Heck, wouldn't surprise me if she'd actually _wanted_ me to be her Pikachu, instead of being 'Femchu'.]"

Leavanny giggled. "[Teehee! 'Her' Pikachu~]"

Pikachu groaned, though he couldn't help but grin. "[Oh, haha, Leaf. You know what I mean.]"

Leavanny covered his mouth to hide his laughter. "[Heehee, sorry, Pikachu~ I just couldn't resist.]"

Pikachu amusedly shook his head. Afterwards, he turned around to see what everyone else was up to.

…Wait, where was the audience? The four friends were in a secluded corner of the hall, sure, but the mouse should have still been able to see a few people, at least…

Oh wait, never mind, he saw them. Almost everyone in the hall was crowding around a very tired-looking Ash in the distance. Poor guy…

Pikachu wanted to go and help him, but the team still had some unfinished business with Oshawott, so Ash would have to hang in there for now, as much as it pained the mouse to say.

On that note, Pikachu and Leavanny both walked over to the otter again, who had Snivy kneeling beside him.

They all exchanged some greetings, though Snivy sounded less than enthusiastic. Pikachu guessed that she was still a bit shaken up by the whole 'Oshawott licking Piplup' thing, not that the mouse blamed her. If Pikachu had caught Buneary licking someone else, he would have felt… Well, he wouldn't have known how to feel, to be honest.

After a while, Snivy said something. "[…I've got to slap him.]"

Pikachu's eyes widened. "[What?]"

"[I'm going to slap him.]"

Leavanny looked horrified. "[Oh no, please don't do that! She didn't mean to lick Piplup! Um, I-I mean, _he_ didn't mean to! Please don't hurt him!]"

"[Yeah, that's a bit harsh, don't you think?]" Pikachu said in agreement.

Snivy shook her head. "[No, I mean I'm going to slap him awake,]" she replied, raising a hand in preparation. "[…I hear that these usually do the trick.]"

Pikachu got the feeling that she was trying to fish for any excuse to hit the otter. Not that he really blamed her; it was Oshawott, after all.

Regardless, the mouse shook his head. "[Well, I wouldn't if I were you.]"

Without moving her hand, Snivy looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "[Why not?]"

Pikachu looked over at the huge crowd that was pestering Ash. "[Besides upsetting the poor guy, if anyone over there saw you hitting their precious Oshawott, then…]" The mouse paused to cringe. "[Well, let's just say that I don't think it'd end well. At all. Trust me, if it wasn't for them, I might have even given him a small jolt or something myself, but as it stands, I'd rather not be strung up by my tail…]"

Snivy stared at the crowd. After a while, she sighed and lowered her hand. "[…I suppose.]"

Leavanny exhaled gently. "[Oh, thank goodness… I was afraid that you were going to hurt him.]"

Snivy looked back down at Oshawott. "[It's not like I want to hurt him, believe me, but I'm fed up of this nonsense...]"

"[Well, at least Piplup's gone now, I guess,]" Pikachu said.

"[True enough,]" Snivy replied before huffing. "[I would rather put up with ten Oshawotts than one of that bloody idiot, any day of the week.]"

Pikachu chuckled. "[Yeah, I know what you mean… Oh well, he means well, even if he _is_ the queen of the drama queens.]"

Snivy actually snickered at that. "[Hehe, no kidding.]"

Their conversation finished, the trio quietly hovered around the otter, each of them wondering what to do next.

After a while, Leavanny, who was sitting down, spoke up. "[So, should I try talking about jelly-filled cookies, again?]"

"[I think it was donuts, Leaf,]" Pikachu corrected. "[But nah, you're good. I think that train's sailed a while ago.]"

Leavanny simply said, "[Oh,]" and left it at that.

"[I wasn't aware that trains could be sailed…]" Snivy remarked.

Pikachu shook his head. "[Well, me neither, but I'm sure Cilan's seen one that can, and fallen in love with it, knowing him.]"

Snivy and Leavanny both chuckled before agreeing.

"[I am the RAWK HAWK King!]" Oshawott yelled out all of a sudden, startling everyone.

Well, everyone except for Leavanny, surprisingly. Instead, his eyes lit up. "[Ooh, I know that pokémon~!]"

"[Can you smell what the RAWK HAWK is bakiiiing!?]"

Leavanny clapped his leafy hands together. "[Teehee~ I love that catchphrase! Goodness, I didn't know Oshawott was a fan of pokémon wrestling.]"

Snivy raised an eyebrow. "[I didn't know _you_ were a fan of pokémon wrestling. You don't seem the type.]"

Leavanny blushed. "[Eheh, well, I sometimes watch it whenever we're at a pokémon center. I enjoy the little stories that they have behind the scenes…]" he admitted.

"[Huh, 'kay then. So, who's this Rawk Hawk King?]" Pikachu asked.

Leavanny smiled. "[Rawk Hawk's a yellow hawlucha that is good at wrestling, flying, screaming his name loudly, and baking cakes. Sometimes even all at once! He's so great~]" Leavanny responded, starry-eyed.

Pikachu shrugged. He didn't get it. Then again, he'd always preferred boxing to wrestling, so that probably didn't help. After a few seconds, something occurred to him. "[Say, what's a hawlucha, anyway?]"

"[Oh, it's a pokémon that is flying-fighting-type. It flies around and slams down onto people, all while wearing a fabulous mask, too~ Well, I think it's a mask, anyway.]"

Pikachu's eyes widened in amazement. Flying-fighting!? Oh man, that actually sounded pretty awesome! The mouse really hoped that he would get the chance to meet one someday. Heck, maybe Ash could even catch one in the future?

…Nah, that would never happen. Save for Scraggy and the primeape that was given away ages ago, Ash only ever caught a fighting-type when it was also part fire-type. Disappointing, really…

After a few seconds, a different thought crossed Pikachu's mind, causing him to snap his fingers. "[Oh, you know what? If Oshawott's referencing real life stuff like wrestling, and that sunshine song from earlier, it must mean that he's slowly coming back to reality!]"

"[Ooh, that's a good point~]" Leavanny said, smiling. "[Does that mean we'll get our Oshawott back soon?]"

Pikachu nodded. "[Hopefully! Though we'll probably need to give him a good jolt for that last push. After that, he should come to! Maybe.]"

"[What do you mean by a jolt?]" Snivy asked, tilting her head. "[I thought we weren't to hurt him?]"

"[Well, I mean that we've just gotta say something that shocks him so much that he'll wake up. No pun intended.]"

"[Like what? He's already…]" Snivy winced. "[…_kissed_ Piplup, so to speak. If that couldn't wake him up, then we have little hope.]"

…She had a good point. After a few seconds of thought, Pikachu gave a big shrug. "[Well… I dunno! You're the Oshawott expert around here! What do you think would wake him up?]"

Snivy raised an eyebrow. "[What suddenly makes me the 'Oshawott expert'?]"

"[Well, you tend to hang out with him way more than any of us do, and you know more about him than even Ash does. I'd say that counts as being a 'Wott' expert, crush or none!]"

Snivy crossed her arms and looked at the otter.

In response, Oshawott started speaking again. "[Green is not a creative color~ Time to cook your pidgey!]"

Snivy exhaled sharply. "[Fine… I'll think of something.]"

Her two friends gave a small cheer in response, before stepping back to let her work her magic.

Snivy closed her eyes to ponder. After a small while, she opened her eyes and hovered over the otter, still kneeling next to him. "[Hey, Wott.]"

One of the otter's eyes drifted over to meet Snivy's. It was still as creepy as sin.

"[Um, how are you?]" Snivy asked.

Oshawott's mouth opened wide in what appeared to be an odd smile. "[Ooh! Hello, Princess Snevy!]"

Leavanny clapped his hands together happily. "[Oh, how delightful! He seems to recognize you~]"

Snivy smiled. "[Heh, apparently so. Sort of.]"

"[You're looking as beauuutiful as ever, Snevy~!]" Oshawott continued. "[I don't care what Litwick Strike says, you're the cutest snakey!]"

A heavy blush appeared above Snivy's nose in response, drawing a grin from Pikachu and a "D'awww!" from Leavanny.

"[Er… t-thank you, Wott,]" Snivy replied, turning away from Pikachu and Leavanny to hide her ever-reddening face. "[Um, now listen; Emolga really loves you, and she wants to share her apples with you, and only you. Forever.]"

Oshawott looked towards Pikachu and pointed at him, making the mouse jump. "[Hurry, Princess Snevy! Dr. Eggroll's rabbit robots are attacking the Wacky Workbench! Find me six pokémon with attitude!]"

"[Bugger…]" Snivy muttered to herself. "[I was sure that would work.]"

Pikachu shrugged. "[Hey, at least he's a being lot more consistent about his craziness, I guess. Try again!]"

Snivy nodded and tried something else. "[Oh hey, look, it's Meloetta. It seems that she's given up on Piplup and just wants you instead, all because of how 'manly' you are.]"

Oshawott looked towards Snivy again. "[Don't worry, Princess Snevy! With my detective skills and your beauty, nothing can stop us from saving the Pockypark from Dr. Eggroll!]"

Leavanny's shoulders slumped. "[Oh no, he still isn't going for it...]"

"[C'mon, Snive!]" Pikachu said, pumping his fist. "[You just have to be more extreme with your approach!]"

"[Er, right, um…]" Snivy replied, noticeably starting to lose her cool. "[…Yes. That mienfoo that punched you yesterday, after you flirted with her, actually wants you to give her a baby through copious amounts of breeding. You should take her up on that, or something.]"

Pikachu sweat dropped. He hadn't meant _that_ extreme…

The otter slowly shook his head. "[Whoopsie! Sorry about going into the wrong hole, Snevy! I'm new to golf, you see. Birdie!]"

Snivy frowned. "[Mienfoo, Emolga _and_ Meloetta all really fancy you! Hell, even Vanilluxe does!]" she said, raising her voice and lightly shaking Oshawott. "[Surely that's worth _something_ to you?]"

"[Doctors are immune to pills! Let's all eat range ups!]" Oshawott exclaimed, ignoring the snake.

"[Uh oh, we're losing him!]" Pikachu said, noticing that the otter was getting less consistent about his gibberish by the second.

Snivy growled in frustration. "[Ughh… fine then, _I _really fancy you!]" she admitted loudly, her blush now covering the entirety of her face. "[There! Now bloody _wake up_!]"

Oshawott's eyes suddenly widened slightly, becoming noticeably less dilated and wonky. Wow… it was working! It was almost as if he had heard her confession! He hadn't quite fully recovered yet, but out of everything the team had tried so far, that seemed to have had the most impact.

"[Ooh, it's working! It's working!]" Leavanny said, excitedly.

Snivy stopped scowling and looked at the otter in surprise.

"[Wow… Q-quick, say it again!]" Pikachu said.

"[Oh, I, er… that is to say, I… um… I-I fan- …ugh,]" Snivy started, flusteredly stumbling over herself. Oh no, why did she have to act stubborn now!?

After a small while, the otter's eyes went back to the way they were before, meaning that the team was back to square one. Drat!

"[Ughh, _bugger_!]" Snivy exclaimed.

Pikachu clicked his fingers in frustration. "[Darn it! We were so close!]" There was no way that they were gonna get that sort of reaction again…

"[Oh, oh, try kissing him!]" Leavanny offered, looking way too enthusiastic about the idea. "[I think that might work!]"

Pikachu sighed and gave him a bemused look. "[C'mon, Leavanny. Osha's already kissed Pip of all pokémon, and that didn't work at all.]"

"[But what if he's kissed by someone that he really likes? That might spring him awake!]"

Pikachu shrugged. It would certainly spring something from the otter, that's for sure… "[Well, feel free to try it out yourself, Leaf.]"

Leavanny broke out into a cold sweat. "[O-oh, um, no thank you. I don't think that would be such a good idea…]"

Pikachu chuckled lightly. "[Thought not. And if you're not gonna do it, then I certainly don't think Snivy's gonna-]"

The mouse turned back to look at Oshawott, and was greeted with the sight of Snivy closing her eyes and drawing closer to the otter's mouth, puckering her lips together awkwardly. Oh, dear, sweet Mewtwo, was she actually thinking about doing it!?

Pikachu's jaw nearly hit the floor as he stared at them wide-eyed, with Leavanny's reaction being very similar. Was this really happening…? This was honestly one of the most unexpected moments of the day, which was _really_ saying something.

It wasn't that simple, however; Snivy seemed to be hesitating very heavily, sometimes pausing to shudder before forcing herself to keep going a little bit more.

Eventually, she stopped dead in her tracks completely before sighing loudly. "[…I can't do it.]"

Pikachu shook his head sadly. He had a feeling that would be the case…

Leavanny looked a little disappointed, though he tried hiding it. "[Oh… well, at least you still tried, Snivy.]"

Snivy huffed. "[Hmph. I still think I should've slapped him.]" She looked down at the otter, who seemed completely oblivious to what had just almost happened. "[…Plonker.]"

After a small while, Leavanny anxiously twiddled his leafy hands together. "[Say, Snivy? Did you really mean it when you told Oshawott that you-]"

"[_No_!]" Snivy barked, cutting the caterpillar off.

Leavanny became startled. "[Eep! I'm sorry, I was just curious! P-please don't get mad!]"

Pikachu rolled his eyes. That snake was so stubborn…

As he thought of something to say to break the awkward silence, the mouse noticed that Snivy's face was still hovering close to Osha's mouth. At first, Pikachu thought nothing of it, but then he remembered the otter's earlier water attack against Leavanny and the licking of Piplup's beak, which had both happened when they'd gotten too close to his... Uh oh.

Worried, Pikachu spoke up. "[U-um, Snivy? I don't think you should sit so close to his mou-]"

"[You made lotsa mom's rotten spaghetti!]" Oshawott interrupted.

Snivy raised an eyebrow. "[Wha-?]"

Before anything more could be said, Oshawott quickly opened his mouth, reached forwards, and engulfed Snivy's nose.

At first, Pikachu expected to hear a cry of pain. However, he quickly realized that the otter wasn't biting down, thankfully. At worst, he was either gently nibbling or suckling on the snake's nose, or both, it was hard to tell. Either way, Snivy wasn't in any danger, though she did seem pretty shocked all the same.

The mouse groaned. "[Yup, saw that one coming from a mile away…]" he muttered, turning towards Leavanny. "[How about… you?]"

Pikachu saw Leavanny blushing while covering his mouth. "[Oh my…]"

"[What's wrong?]" Pikachu asked, tilting his head. "[At least she didn't get the 'Piplup treatment'.]"

"[W-well, um…]" Leavanny whispered, trying not to let Snivy hear him. "[back in Pinwheel Forest, I once heard that when two snivys like each other very much, they usually… rub their noses together, affectionately.]"

Pikachu's eyes widened. "[What, you mean like… a love confessiony thing, or something?]" he whispered back.

Leavanny nodded. "[Yeah. It's a little like when humans kiss each other. Or so I've heard, anyway...]"

Oh dear... That would explain why Snivy had turned entirely red and was pulling that indescribable face, then. If rubbing noses together was like making-out for a snivy, Pikachu didn't even want to _think_ about what a nose chomp would translate to…

Despite everything, however, the grass snake didn't pull away. She seemed far too shocked to do anything other than make timid, "[…Eeep,]" noises. It was by far the most flustered Pikachu had ever seen her.

Leavanny looked like he was trying his very hardest not to coo over them, but that didn't stop the starry-eyed look that Pikachu had come to expect from him by now.

Eventually, Snivy regained her senses and scowled immensely before trying to free herself. Oshawott didn't let up, however; Snivy's nose was stuck tight.

"[Geddof my dose, you complede idiod!]" Snivy growled angrily, trying her hardest to remove herself from the otter.

Soon after, Pikachu and Leavanny moved over to help, by tugging at Snivy and Oshawott respectively. It took a lot of effort, but eventually, the unlikely couple were separated.

"[I used shellPWNage on you with my skills, lagonoob!]" Oshawott boasted as his mouth was freed. "[Nobody expects the blue shell of Pizza-Bear Kart 87!]"

As soon as Pikachu let go of her, Snivy quickly stormed out of the hall while angrily spouting many rude words that started with the letters 'B', 'P', 'T', 'W', and… well, Pikachu wasn't sure if that one was a 'K' or a 'C', but he certainly wasn't going to repeat it, all the same.

"[O-oh dear…]" Leavanny said, sweating coldly. "[S-should we go after her?]"

"[Nahh…]" Pikachu replied, looking towards the exit that Snivy went through. "[I think we should just let her cool off.]" The only thing scarier than Oshawott's creepy gaze was getting on that snake's bad side. Especially after these shenanigans...

The caterpillar's antennae drooped. "[Yeah…]"

After that, the two friends awkwardly stood there for a little while, neither of them knowing what to say.

Eventually, Leavanny spoke up again. "[So, er, what shall we do now?]"

Pikachu shrugged. "[I have no idea. She was our best chance of getting Osha back to normal, so I think it's a bit of a lost cause by now.]"

Leavanny dejectedly agreed. "[Do you suppose that we should just bring him back to Ash, then?]"

"[I guess so. He might recover after a bit of rest inside his pokéball.]"

"[What if he doesn't? I mean, I want him to, of course, but…]"

Pikachu looked towards the otter. "[Well, then we'll just try again later, I guess. Should be much easier when we're not pretending that he's a woman.]"

Leavanny nodded. "[Yes, I suppose so,]" he said, moving over to Oshawott and scooping him up to carry him. After that, the duo headed towards Ash with Osha in tow.

As they made their way towards Ash, Oshawott had one more crazy thing to shout. "[Pick a legendary and pray!]"

Pikachu sighed. That didn't sound like a bad idea at this point…

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED!**

* * *

**Finished:** 04/12 (December)/2014

**Word count:** 3,102

**VGS2's pointless fun facts:** So by now, I'll bet you're all wondering: "Why in the holy name of Yoshi's Wooly World is Snivy saying so many British-sounding things?" Well, originally, she sounded totally normal, just like the other mons. However, after following ravengal's repeated insistence that I should watch Hetalia, I found myself enjoying the character called 'Britain', as well as his accent and speech mannerisms.

So yeah, after uploading chapter 2 of the fic (or before uploading it, I dunno, I don't remember *shrug*), I decided that it might be fun to spruce up Snivy's language with a little bit of British flair, because… hey, why not? It fits the snarky, aloof personality she usually has going on, to some extent, so I may as well! Makes her a bit more interesting, too.

That being said, though, most of ya might disagree with me and my decision completely. And by 'might', I mean will. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course! Opinions are free, man!

Either way, it certainly makes more sense than turning Oshawott into a Scouser, or Buneary into a Hungarian with a bad lisp, or something silly like that. I mean, I would never do that, of course, but just imagine if I did... XP

But yeah, the main point of this fun fact is to let you know that I've edited the first two chapters to reflect Snivy's newfound British-y speech patterns. Plus, I also did some grammar fixing on the side, which is cool, too.  
Feel free to go and check! Might help clear up a little bit of plot-hole-filled confusion if you're someone who's been reading from the start, and maybe missed the edits that I've made since the earlier chapters were posted.

**Shameless Self-Promotion: **If you don't review, favourite, and/or follow this story, the 'unlikely rivalry' will be delayed by another fifty chapters! (Disclaimer: Not really. I hope.)  
And, as always, thanks to the sexy folks who've shown their support to me and the fic so far! British Snivy is tsundere for you the most! :3

Also, a big thanks to ravengal, who gets to read/help with all of this garbage before it's posted. Her help is credit to team! :D

Welp, that's all, guys. Tatata for now! c:

* * *

**Next up:** An unlikely rivalry!

(For _SUPER_ reals, this time! Probably)


	8. Psychotic Persistence

**Last time on Unlikely Rivalry...**

Snivy: "Why won't Wott-senpai notice meeee!?"

Crazywott: *Noms on Snivy's nose*

Snivy: *Doki doki* "Uguuu~! Wott-senpai, y-you… you p-p-plonker!" *Runs away while blushing*

Crazywott: "Cranberry waffle irons!"

* * *

**Chapter 8****: **_Psychotic Persistence_

* * *

Pikachu and Leavanny stopped in front of the crowd of Oshawott supporters, who were all harassing Ash for details on Osha's wellbeing.

The duo tried to squeeze on by in order to reach their trainer, but it was like trying to walk through a brick wall! Thank goodness Snivy hadn't brought Oshawott over here earlier, or else they wouldn't have had room to breathe, let alone talk sense into him.

Leavanny frowned as he saw Ash struggling to answer all the questions. "[Oh no… they're really giving him a lot of trouble, aren't they?]" he asked, dejectedly.

"[Yeah, no kidding…]" Pikachu agreed. "[We'll never get to him like this.]"

Pikachu listened in on the hordes of fans to see if he could hear Ash. Eventually, he picked out a recognizable, though more feminine than usual, voice. It sounded very tired. "I dunno where she is! No, she's not been possessed by an angry demon pokémon. Er, sorry, little… red bird pokémon, but I can't understand you. No, don't get ang- _AHHH_!" Ash started yelling, apparently having been attacked by the fletch… thing.

"[We'd better get Ash out of there fast,]" Pikachu said, worriedly. "[I don't think he's gonna last much longer...]"

The mouse saw Leavanny knit his brows in thought. After a while, he nodded to himself, determinedly.

Pikachu tilted his head. What did that guy have planned? As he saw Leavanny prepping himself to run, though, it all made sense. "[Oh, legends no. If you're doing what I think you're doing, Leaf, then that's crazy! You'll get trampled!]"

"[I know, but…]" Leavanny paused to give Ash a look of pity. "[…if I don't do it, then poor Ash won't be able to escape. So I just have to try!]"

After a mulling on it for a while, Pikachu sighed and nodded. It was almost suicide, but if they didn't do this, the fans would never let up and leave Ash alone. "[I guess so… Well, alright then, best of luck, Leaf. I believe in ya!]"

Leaf smiled and thanked him. Afterwards, he faced the crowd and yelled, "[Everyone, look, it's Miss Oshawott! She's here!]"

"[You won't find adobe here in Nairobi!]" Oshawott added in his female voice.

Almost immediately, all the pokémon in the crowd turned around to face the caterpillar, which inspired all of the humans to do the same. As they eyed up the suddenly regretful bug-type in front of them, they soon spotted Oshawott and reacted as expected.

"Dude, it's Oshawott!" a trainer yelled excitedly.

"[She's… she's here!]" a young tirtouga said happily.

"[She's more beautiful up close than I thought she would be…]" a blushing houndoom muttered to himself.

"Magikarp!" a flopping magikarp uttered loudly, for some reason.

Well then… it was looking like letting Snivy slap Osha would have been fine after all. Nobody in the crowd had given the guy any attention at all up until now, it seemed. These spectators were not very good at spectating.

The crowd's mutterings continued for a small while. Before too long, though, everyone lunged forwards towards Leavanny at once, all of them wanting a chance to get a closer look at the otter in the pokémon's arms.

Yelping, the caterpillar made a break for the exit with all of the fans hot on his trail. "[_Eeeep_! Oh dear, oh dear, p-please calm yourselves, everyone! Ackk!]" he yelled while running for his life, with Oshawott in tow.

That poor pokémon… Pikachu hoped that Leaf had some good legs on him. Those fans didn't look like they were in a hurry to stop any time soon…

And, just like that, Pikachu and Ash were the only ones left inside the hall. Not even the host could be found, implying that she had also joined the crowd for whatever reason. Pikachu hoped she had gone to go and calm them all down, but the mouse knew better. It was more likely that she was egging them all on to make some more money, or whatever.

Dawn's team seemed to have gone elsewhere too, though that was probably more related to Piplup than Oshawott. Dawn had no way of knowing why Buneary had returned Piplup with all of his senses shut off, so it was likely that the coordinator was searching for a nurse in the building to help wake the penguin.

Eventually, some cleaners and their pokémon scrambled onto the arena in order to remove all of the ice. However, their numbers were severely reduced from last time. It didn't take a genius to guess where most of the other janitors were…

Ash, who was currently kneeling down to catch his breath, breathed a sigh of relief. "Phew… thank goodness." He chuckled. "Heh, remind me to let Leavanny have some extra dinner for that one."

"Pika, Pikapi!" Pikachu agreed, nodding. Afterwards, he moved over to help his trainer back to his feet, who thanked him in return.

After dusting off his dress, Ash turned to Pikachu. "So, buddy, what's wrong with Oshawott? Why was he just… lying there with that weird look on his face?"

…Where would the mouse even begin? "Pikachu, pika pikachu!" He made a circular motion with his finger near to the side of his head.

"…Kookoo? You mean, like… mad?" Ash asked, scratching his wig.

Pikachu nodded. "Pika, pikachu."

"Oh man… why's he gone mad?"

Pikachu pointed at the blue flower on his head.

Ash raised an eyebrow. "…He hates flowers?"

Well… he wasn't wrong, but Pikachu shook his head anyway. Afterwards, he pulled his tail out from behind him and pointed towards the tip.

"Oh, I get it, I think. He really hates being a girl, huh?"

Pikachu nodded enthusiastically. Ash was catching onto it now! Thank goodness the trainer's charades skills had improved over the years. "Pikachu, Pikapi!"

Ash looked proud that he'd managed to figure it out. However, the look soon turned sour. "Oh man, I can't tell everyone that! It'll just raise even more questions."

Yeah, he certainly wasn't wrong. If they just went with 'she's gone insane', the people would insist on a medical checkup for the otter, which wouldn't end well for anybody. "Pika, pikachu…"

Ash furrowed his brow in thought. "…No, wait! I have an idea! He was inside that bowl of ice, wasn't he? If that's the case, then I've got the perfect idea!" he said, before nodding to himself in satisfaction. "Yeah…"

…Pikachu really hoped that Ash wasn't going to say what he thought Ash was going to say.

Whatever the trainer's idea was, however, was kept to himself, as he thought of something else to ask. "Say, where's Snivy?"

Pikachu pointed towards the contest hall's exit. The same one that Leavanny had just gone through. "Pi pikachu, pika."

"Oh, you mean she's gone, too?" Ash asked, groaning. "I'd better go and find her, then..." He made a move towards the exit.

Before he could go very far, though, Pikachu grabbed his dress. As Ash turned to face him, the mouse shook his head. "Pi, Pikapi!"

Ash's head tilted slightly. "Huh, you don't think I should go and find her?" Pikachu shook his head again. "Why? What's wrong? Oh, don't tell me that she's gone mad, too…"

Oh, Mewtwo. Pikachu had hoped he wouldn't have to explain that. Her 'problem' was complicated in every sense of the word, so how exactly was the mouse supposed to tell him what was wrong with her!? He moved to make a shrugging motion, though he stopped as he thought of an idea. Instead of shrugging, he chose to feebly flop to the ground in a sickly manner. "Chaaa…"

Ash stroked his chin. "Huh… is she sick?"

Pikachu stood up and nodded. "Pika!" After nodding, he held his hands to his chest, where his heart was, and sighed exaggeratedly.

Ash held a hand up to his face. "Uh oh… don't tell me that it's a matter of the heart."

Pikachu sighed, albeit a bit more sincerely this time, and nodded. "Pikachu, pika."

Ash groaned. "Oh man, I'm horrible with those!" he exclaimed, to which Pikachu agreed. "Now it's exactly like in the letter that Dawn sent last week, about one of her pokémon…"

Pikachu raised an eyebrow at that. What letter? And since when was one of Dawn's pokémon having a romantic crisis?

Hmm… unless it was Piplup who was having said crisis. After that recent craziness with Oshawott, it would certainly explain a few things.

"Guess we won't be seeing Snivy again until much later, then, huh?" Ash asked, looking down at the grass snake's pokéball dejectedly.

Pikachu shook his head. "Pika…" Knowing that girl, she was probably much more interested in seething to herself than contest battling right now… so dragging her back here to battle would be nothing short of a bad idea.

Ash sighed. "Oh well… guess you're up next then, buddy. It'll be no good if Snivy's having a lovey-dovey problem while we're battling, so I'll just let the host know that she's… sick, or something. Besides, I'm certain that she'll come back, once she's finished with... whatever her lovey problem is."

The mouse reluctantly nodded. He really didn't wanna go up against Buneary and her radiant contest skills… but he had to, for Ash's sake! Besides, maybe challenging Buneary could be interesting. It was rare that they ever got to compete in anything, seeing as the bunny would always refuse to fight against Pikachu, even under direct orders, so this could be a cool experience for the mouse.

Before Pikachu could continue thinking about Buneary, again, Ash invitingly patted his own shoulder and started towards the exit. "C'mon, buddy. Let's go and save Leavanny and Oshawott before things get hairy."

Pikachu nodded in agreement and happily said, "Pika!" before hopping onto Ash's shoulder, allowing the trainer to start running out of the hall while holding his dress up, to avoid another embarrassing fall.

* * *

Leavanny panted heavily as he continued running across the large, grassy fields in the park behind the contest hall, all with Oshawott laying peacefully in his arms, and a humongous crowd of people and pokémon behind them in pursuit. The tired bug-type wanted to stop, if only for a second, but Oshawott's fans were numerous and, to be honest, quite scary, so having a rest was all but impossible.

He shrieked as a lillipup almost tackled him from the side, forcing him to dodge. Oh dear, oh dear… why did he think that this would be such a good idea, again? He was such a silly caterpillar… Still, he wasn't to know that _all _of them were going to give chase after seeing Oshawott. Or perhaps he was to know. Ohhh, he didn't know…

Still, if it would help Oshawott stop feeling unwell, and save Ash from the very same people that were currently chasing Leavanny, then it was most certainly worth it~ …if he could evade them, of course. Hopefully.

In his panic, Leavanny almost stepped onto a bed of flowers. Stumbling slightly, he quickly swerved to the right, barely dodging them. No matter what kind of danger he was in, he could never trample these flowers! They reminded the grass-type of the pretty red rose atop his head, so how could he? Looking behind him, he noticed that his pursuers had also done the same, thankfully missing the flowerbed. Unfortunately, in trying to save the pretty flowers, he had allowed everyone to get even closer, still, which meant that he had to run even faster. Dear, oh dear…

As he turned to watch where he was going again, Leavanny noticed that he'd almost crashed into some trees! Instinctively, he dodged in-between the two trees that were in his path, and also hopped over a small bush that immediately appeared afterwards. Happy that the path ahead was clear, he glanced backwards again, and was delighted to find that his pursuers had slowed down, being unable to get around the obstacles without getting in each other's way at the same time. Leavanny couldn't stop to celebrate, however; relaxing now could put him and Oshawott at terrible risk! So, much to the dismay of his burning feet and lungs, he kept running as fast as his legs could take him.

Encountering the entrance to a large park garden, Leavanny decided to rush inside for cover. Eventually, and unfortunately, he heard his pursuers do the same.

After dashing across many pathways, trying his hardest to ignore the pretty scenery, he came across a large row of tall, decorative hedges, which he decided to deftly weave in-between, like one would do while training with a group of traffic cones. It would mean more running as he dodged around each bush, but it was likely to confuse and tire some of his chasers, so it was worth it!

As he slalomed around the hedges, he absent-mindedly slowed down a little to admire them, after noticing that they reminded him of the bush that he and his friends had dressed up in before entering the contest. It was a somewhat nostalgic feeling that distracted the caterpillar from his horribly aching feet. It was such a shame that these bushes were too thick to hide inside, though…

…Eek! Wait, why was he slowing down!? Leavanny began to sprint again, remembering that he currently had higher priorities than touring the garden, as adorable as it was. It was a good job that he'd started going fast again, too; he could hear the footsteps from behind getting closer!

After moving around several more bushes, he suddenly came up with an idea. Taking a quick pause, he stopped to spray the area with a large dose of his String Shot to form a tall web that linked the bushes. Afterwards, he started running again, this time leaving for the large, grassy fields as he found the garden's exit.

As he listened behind him, he could hear angry yelling as Oshawott's fans turned the booby-trapped corner and started tripping over the string. Leavanny giggled to himself; it was a mean trick, but it had worked! Tee hee! He could be such a naughty caterpillar sometimes~

After some more running, he almost tripped over a large branch. Thankfully, he managed to recover before he fell down, though not without feeling a sharp pain shoot up his foot at trying to save himself, which caused Leavanny to yelp. The incident made him realize that he was in desperate need of a rest, or else his poor, delicate legs would end up falling off! Well, figuratively speaking, anyway. At least, he hoped so…

Looking around, he couldn't find anywhere that was especially inconspicuous, perhaps save for the before-mentioned bushes that Ash had found earlier… though in order to hide there, he would have to pass by the entrance to the hall, which was most likely very busy with more fans who could potentially join the chase. Ohh, if only he could make his own hiding spot…

…Leavanny beamed as he reflected on what he had just mused. That was it! The caterpillar checked behind his shoulder to make sure that nobody was close by. As he looked, he noticed that, thanks to his String Shot trap, his closest pursuers were still exiting the park's garden, which was quite far away. Fabulous~

Ducking behind a large, lonely tree, he proceeded to create a very large pile of leaves with Razor Leaf, which he then hid underneath with Oshawott. The grass-type couldn't help but sigh in content as he laid there, happy that he was able to give his aching feet and burning lungs a much-needed rest.

After a minute or two, he could hear a large influx of footsteps approaching the area. His heart caught in his throat as he listened to them carefully, holding his breath all the while.

"Oh no, where'd they go!?" a male trainer asked, panting.

"Aww man… I totally wanted Oshawott's autograph, but now I'll never get it!" a young girl wailed, which saddened Leavanny to hear. Still, he stayed silent.

"C'mon… let's look elsewhere. They can't have gone far!" another boy said, determinedly.

After that, Leavanny could hear the footsteps going away en masse. It was hard not to giggle in celebration at the sound of them going away; his little gambit had worked!

As he happily grinned to himself, however, he didn't notice as Oshawott began opening his mouth. "[Gotta go fast! You're too slow, time to juice and jam it up!]" the otter yelled, with his usual feminine voice.

The blood drained from Leavanny's face. Oh no. Immediately after Oshawott made that comment, he could hear the thunderous noise of footsteps making their way back towards their hiding place, just as he'd feared.

"Here she is! We found her! We found Oshawott!" a man's voice rang out. Oh bother!

"[Ooh, it's my matefu~! Hold on, I'm coming!]" a timburr's voice bellowed, quickly becoming louder. Oh _double_ bother!

Leavanny wanted to move, but he felt like he'd been hit by a Thunder Wave attack. W-why did Oshawott have to speak now, of all times!? And after being so quiet for so long, too! It wasn't his fault, of course, but… oh, why?

As he felt someone trying to clear the leaves away, Leavanny finally found his senses and took the cue to leave, breaking out of the side of the leaf pile with Oshawott in hand. Afterwards, he began running away from the hundreds of people that had appeared behind them yet again. Oh, how had Ash managed to stand being questioned by all of these fans at once!? Ash was truly a strong trainer, if not the strongest. It was so admirable~ If only he was here to keep Leavanny safe. Ash always knew what to do in times of dan- …Leavanny shook his head to clear away his thoughts. Now was _really_ not the time for him to be daydreaming again!

Well, at the very least, being able to hide had given him the chance to catch his breath. However, it was only a very small comfort; his little feet were still feeling red-raw, and his lungs were struggling to keep up with him. Because of this, the caterpillar was beginning to slow down rather rapidly… especially since he had no obstacles to dodge around or hide behind, this time.

Despite that, he tried to keep going. Before too long, however, he noticed something happening in the distance. Straining his eyes, he saw something that made his leaves wither. Far in front of him were _many _Oshawott fans, who seemed to have caught onto Leavanny's tricks, as they'd formed a large semi-circle formation in an attempt to box him in. Still running, he looked around for a chance to escape his enclosure, but he saw none…

Looking backwards, he could also see that the fans behind him were starting to close the distance, with some of the faster pokémon in the group even being close enough to attempt a lunge at him, which he had to nimbly dodge around, bringing his poor stamina down even lower.

It was only then that the gravity of the situation hit him. He was surrounded on all sides by waves of Oshawott's adoring fans, all of which wanted to… well, Leavanny wasn't entirely sure, but it most likely involved wanting endless autographs and hugs from Oshawott, which would, with this many people, very likely reveal Oshawott's true identity very quickly. Not to mention that poor Leavanny was likely going to be trampled quite badly in the process, or even worse, be made to answer more questions, a thought that sent an involuntary shiver up his spine. Oh dear, oh dear...

Despite everything, however, he couldn't help but wonder if this was how Rawk Hawk felt at times, when surrounded by his own, endless fans. Most likely not, considering how much that hawlucha seemed to enjoy the attention, but Leavanny needed _anything_ to distract him from the impending doom that surrounded him, so he clung to that amusing thought for dear life.

He snapped out of it, however, when something landed onto Oshawott's… er, choppingshell. Looking down, he realized that a joltik had managed to jump up onto the otter whilst Leavanny wasn't watching! Aghh!

"[Sweet, I'm on! Time to grab her seashell and sell it for wacan berries~]" the joltik said, licking her lips.

"[Eek! G-get off, get off, please!]" Leavanny squealed, before panickingly shaking Oshawott in an attempt to remove the electrical bug-type, having no free arms to try and deter her with. Unfortunately, she refused to move. Leavanny would have shaken harder, but he didn't want to hurt Oshawott, so doing so would be impossible.

Suddenly, Oshawott said, "[Let's look at the funk!]", picked up his choppingshell, along with the joltik, and slammed it into his forehead, squashing the intruder. Afterwards, he placed it down onto his stomach again, revealing a very dazed-looking tick stuck to Oshawott's face.

"[…Ouch,]" the joltik groaned before sliding off of the otter's face and onto the ground, much to Leavanny's delight.

However, while Leavanny was happy that they'd escaped the joltik (whom the caterpillar hoped would be alright), he was unable to bring up the energy to celebrate, or even smile. The small fright had caused him to start breathing more rapidly, which in turn, tired him out even more, causing him to slow exponentially. He tried his best to move quickly again, but all of his muscles fought against him, refusing to let him go any faster.

Tears threatened to sting at Leavanny's eyes. It was hopeless, they were going to be caught. He'd let everyone down…

Just as he was ready to accept his cruel fate, a flying-type pokémon suddenly appeared to his immediate right. Dreading the worst, the caterpillar fearfully peeked at the bird soaring to his side. As he did so, however, his jaw nearly hit the floor. "[T-Togekiss!?]"

Leavanny shook his head to see if he was dreaming, but he wasn't. To his side was the sight of his elegant friend, the majestic bird pokémon known as Princess Togekiss!

"[Darlings, quickly!]" Togekiss exclaimed. "[I'll take you both to safety! You just have to trust me, please!]

Realizing that he was staring, he blinked his awe away before nodding and jumping onto her back, making sure to bring Oshawott along with him. Afterwards, in the nick of time, the princess rose away from the ground and took to the air, leaving all of the scary fans, who'd almost managed to grab the caterpillar, below.

Tired and relieved, Leavanny took the opportunity to lay down with his back against hers, in order to avoid squashing Oshawott.

"[Are you ladies alright?]" Togekiss asked, attempting to angle her head to face them. "[The way that they were all flocking together to chase you was quite ludicrous, I must say.]"

Exhausted, and enjoying the feeling of the princess' luxurious feathers against his grassy skin, Leavanny could only nod slowly in response.

She noticed his contentment and chuckled. "[Oh ho ho~ I shall take that as a yes.]"

"[Welcome to the Purrloin Mario show!]" Oshawott started to yell. "[Smile for the camera, wahoo!]"

Leavanny couldn't see her pretty fa-… um, see her face, but he imagined Togekiss raising an eyebrow at that. "[Err… excuse me, sorry?]" she asked, confused.

"[He's…]" Leavanny coughed. "[um, she's not…. feeling quite… herself,]" he managed, wheezing all the while. Ohh, would his lungs ever stop feeling like a crushed balloon?

"[Heavens, is that so? Oh dear…]" Togekiss replied, sounding concerned.

"[Yeah… that's why we have to… take her back to our trainer,]" he responded, slowly sitting up. "[We… ran into a little trouble along… the way, though, as you saw. Eheh…]"

"[Well, say no more! I shall bring you back to her, post-haste!]"

Leavanny beamed. "[Oh, thank you ever so much, Togekiss~]"

She nodded. "[Think nothing of it, my dear~]"

Leavanny was glad that Togekiss couldn't see his face. It was feeling… warm. And, as he realized this, his face grew warmer, still. Oh goodness…

* * *

Pikachu and Ash, with the mouse on his shoulder, searched high and low for ages, but couldn't find a single trace of Leavanny, or Oshawott.

Oh man… Pikachu really hoped that they hadn't been caught by the fans, of which there were plenty to be found in the area. There's no way that could ever end well for either of them.

Well, at the very least, it was safe to say that Pikachu wasn't jealous of Oshawott's popularity, anymore. Anybody who wanted this many fans was _crazy_! Especially fans like these!

Just as the two prepared to go and search the front of the hall, Ash suddenly pointed towards the sky. "Hey, isn't that Dawn's Togekiss?"

"Pika?" The mouse followed his trainer's gaze and saw exactly what he meant; high in the sky was a large, white bird with red and blue speckles on their belly, much like Togekiss.

That wasn't all, either. When Pikachu squinted, he could see a green pokémon sitting on Togekiss' back while holding something blue and white. Could it have been…?

"Oh hey, and she's carrying Oshawott and Leavanny! Sweet!" Ash exclaimed, before running over to their location.

"Pika, pikachu!" Pikachu said, happily. He was glad to see that they were alright. Thank goodness for good ol' Togekiss!

Ash sprinted down a path that ran close to the contest hall, all he and Pikachu yelled and tried to wave down the pokémon above. Eventually, Togekiss seemed to have noticed, as her flight path changed to start descending towards the duo's general location.

As Ash ran along, however, he almost bumped into a red-haired lady in a ponytail and weird clothes. As he stopped to apologize, his face lit up in recognition. "Oh, hey there, um..." he greeted, using his feminine voice.

The host, who was still carrying her microphone, even though it wasn't connected to anything, smiled. "Oh, hey there, Ashley!" She pointed a finger to her chin and kept it there. "Please, call me Hoste."

…A host called Hoste… Pikachu wondered if presenting contests was this woman's destiny from the very beginning.

"Oh, okay then. Hey, Hoste!" Ash replied, completely ignorant to her name.

She nodded in response before looking apologetic. "Say, I'm really, really sorry about how the audience are acting. They're, er, really enthusiastic about your little girl, it seems."

"No kidding… Oh well, no problem, Hoste," Ash replied, waving a hand dismissively.

Hoste smiled. "Ooh, so does this mean that you won't be suing us?"

He gave her an odd look. "Err... I think so?"

"Ah, wonderful! Heh, boy, was I worried for a moment, there..."

After a few seconds of confusion, Ash simply shrugged. "Um... oh yeah, speaking of Oshawott. I actually wanted to ask something."

"Alright, shoot."

"Well… I need to make a public statement about Oshawott and my snivy. Is that alright?"

"Oh, sure! Lemmie just round everyone up, and then you can 'state' to your heart's content!"

"Great, thanks!" he replied, smiling.

Hoste returned the smile, though she frowned afterwards. "Wait, lemmie guess: are you retiring Oshawott from the contest?"

Ash scratched the back of his wig. "Eheh, yeah, sorry… She's not really feeling good."

Removing her finger from her chin, Hoste sighed, but smiled again afterwards, albeit less enthusiastically. "Yeah, okay then, fair enough. Contest's already gone better than last week's, so I can't complain. Still can't believe we didn't get enough couples in, back then, though. Ugh…" she said, trailing off. "…Well, anyway, meet me inside the hall, and I'll let you tell 'em. Fair warning, though: you might wanna stand next to something that you can duck behind, just… 'in case'."

Pikachu grimaced. He didn't like the sound of that at all.

Ash raised an eyebrow at her statement. "Err… alright then, I'll… keep that in mind, thanks. Anyway, I've gotta go and get Oshawott, so I'll see you around!"

Hoste nodded and also said her goodbyes, before leaving to gather up Oshawott's fans for Ash's announcement.

The conversation over, Ash continued walking in the direction of where Togekiss had landed, while Pikachu contemplated how much worse this day was going to become. "Piii… pikachu."

Ash stroked Pikachu on the nose with his finger, which helped to calm the mouse a little. "Don't worry, buddy. I'm sure things won't be _too_ bad. Everyone will understand if we just tell them what happened."

"Pika…" Pikachu wasn't entirely convinced… but, with his trainer by his side, he was sure that he could take whatever happened head-on.

After a while of walking, the duo eventually stumbled upon Togekiss, who was dipping downwards to let Leavanny disembark, with Oshawott in his arms. Wisely, they had chosen to land in an area that was mostly surrounded by potted bushes, meaning that they were unlikely to be spotted by Osha's fans. Hopefully.

As Ash approached, Leavanny and Togekiss noticed them and waved. Pikachu and Ash waved back, happily.

"Leavanny, leaf, leavanny!" Leavanny greeted enthusiastically while running up to Ash, who pulled him in for a small hug.

"Hey, Leavanny!" Ash greeted, letting go of the caterpillar. "Thanks for saving me from the crowd, earlier. I owe you one, buddy!"

The caterpillar blushed and twiddled his leafy hands together bashfully. "Leavanny…"

As the two talked to each other, Pikachu hopped off of Ash's shoulder and walked up to Togekiss, who smiled in return. "[Hey, Togekiss! Thanks for keeping Leavanny and Oshawott safe,]" he said, using the same girly voice that he'd used earlier to trick Buneary.

"[Oh, think nothing of it, dear~]" she replied while smiling. "[I simply had to do something after noticing this poor lady running for her life. Your little friend, Oshawott, must be quite popular, indeed.]"

If that wasn't the understatement of the century, Pikachu didn't know what was... "[Yeah… no kidding.]"

A small while later, Ash and Leavanny moved over to thank Togekiss as well. Especially Leavanny, who was more than praising enough. It was almost as if the bird had saved his life, or something! Then again, knowing Osha's fans, that probably wasn't far from the truth…

After some more small talk between the group, which Ash couldn't understand, Togekiss swapped goodbyes with everyone and then flew away to go and meet up with Dawn again.

As they watched her take off, Leavanny sighed dreamily while waving. "[She truly is a noble princess, isn't she~?]"

Pikachu shrugged. "[Er, I guess?]" He had never really seen her as a princess, to be honest. Togekiss had always felt more like the auntie of the group, especially seeing as she never even referred to herself as royalty anyway. Leavanny was living in such a fantasy world…

After seeing that smile on his face, though, it was hard not to feel happy for him. Whatever fantasy world he lived in was truly a happy one, for sure.

* * *

Pikachu felt very tiny as hundreds, if not thousands, of eager eyes expectantly stared in his direction. Well, Ash's direction to be precise, but telling that to his own pounding heart was almost impossible.

The mouse and his team were currently standing next to the host's seat, while all of the spectators stood on the now-clean arena, watching the gang with keen interest as Ash prepared to make his public statement.

Looking to Ash, whose shoulder Pikachu was sitting on again, the mouse could tell that he was feeling the same way. He was nervously fidgeting with his wig by using his free hand, while holding Oshawott with the other one.

Leavanny was already hiding behind the large, transparent, heavy-duty blast shield that Hoste had provided for the trio 'just in case'. Judging by his shuddering, Pikachu guessed that he was still a bit shaken up over all of the chasing that he'd been through, understandably.

"Err, okay, everyone!" Ash started in his usual girly voice, speaking into a standing microphone. "So, as you might know, I have something to tell ya."

In anticipation, the crowd seemed to lean in closer, almost causing Pikachu to fall off of Ash's shoulder as he instinctively edged away.

Ash cleared his throat. "Er… so, first of all, I need to retire my snivy. She's… sick with something right now."

There was some murmuring from the crowd, but they otherwise seemed okay with the news.

"What about Oshawott? She's fine, right?" someone asked, causing most of the crowd to start asking the same question.

Ash swallowed hard. "Ahaha, about that… well, y'see, she's…" He edged towards the blast shield. "…also sick."

…

Oshawott's fans did nothing but give horrified stares, almost as if someone had suffered a car crash.

Ash slowly poked his head out from behind the blast shield. "…So, yeah, she's going to have to… leave the contest. For now, anyway."

The crowd replied with a very large deal of gasping and horrified muttering, which was Ash's cue to hide again.

"[_Nooo, my beautiful princess_!]" a crying audino screamed.

"Are you 'avin' a giggle, mate!?" some trainer yelled, angrily.

"[I can't believe it! This is _the_! _Worst_! _Possible_! _Thing_!]" a ponyta screeched before fainting, nearly burning some of the other spectators as she toppled over.

Yep… this was going about as swimmingly as the mouse had expected it to. Those were some of the less drastic comments, too… Well, at least nobody had thrown anything ye- Oh wait, Pikachu noticed a rotten tomato sliding down the blast shield. Never mind.

"W-what happened to her!?" one of the reporters in the crowd asked, shoving a microphone in Ash's direction.

Ash reluctantly came out of hiding again. "W-well, after she used her Hydro… Aqua Jet, she was trapped in that big bowl of ice water, right? Well... it made her too cold."

It was impossible for Pikachu to avoid groaning at that. How did he know that was the excuse Ash was gonna go with…?

Much to his surprise, however, the crowd was giving off many sounds of understanding, as if they had bought the bad lie. The mouse was amazed, to say the least, though something inside told him that he shouldn't have been.

Ash held Oshawott up so that the crowd could see him. "See? It's made her really sick."

"[Helloooo Skitty! Play with us today~!]" Oshawott sang in response, which could be heard by some of the now-confused spectators in the front row.

"…Er, yeah, it's made her go a little… wacky," Ash said, grimacing slightly. "Here, listen."

He held Oshawott a little closer to the microphone, allowing the otter's madness to be heard by everyone. "[Crack crack crack the egg into the bowl! You got BOOST POWAHHHHH!]"

The crowd started murmuring worriedly. The humans weren't able to understand the otter, obviously, but his pokémon speech sounded as strange as heck, so even they knew that something was up.

Ash held Oshawott away from the mic and spoke into it again. "Y'see? So that's why she has to go away, so that she can warm up and recover! If she doesn't, she could get even worse."

The crowd groaned disappointedly, but they seemed to accept the news to some degree, if only for their lord Oshawott's well-being.

Satisfied that he wasn't going to be lynched, Ash gently placed Oshawott on the ground before taking out the otter's pokéball. "Alright, Oshawott. Return!"

"[Please get well soon, Oshawott…]" Leavanny said quietly, to which Pikachu agreed.

As the red energy from the ball swirled around Oshawott, he had one last bit of gibberish to shout. "[Game over, _YEAAHHHHHH_!]" And with that, he was returned to his pokéball, which Ash then clipped back onto the belt around his dress.

Hoste maneuvered over to the microphone and picked it up off the stand. "So there you have it, folks! By default, this means that the winner of this round, and I suppose the next one due to Snivy dropping out, is Buneary!"

A spotlight hovered over Buneary, who was standing on Dawn's side of the hall near her team-mates, all of which had recently reentered the room. Surprised by the sudden attention, she gave a small, awkward wave towards everyone.

The crowd began clapping politely, which wasn't much, but it was enough to give Buneary a small smile, which Pikachu appreciated.

However, that all changed very quickly with one spectator's careless comment. "Hey, she's the reason that Oshawott isn't competing anymore! That pest's ice froze Oshawott and made her go all giddy!" he exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger at Buneary.

She looked shocked at the accusation, and started shaking her head and paws defensively. Especially when people in the crowd started talking amongst themselves while staring in her direction.

…Pikachu didn't like where this was going. Not at all.

Rightfully so, too. Before long, everyone in the audience had started agreeing with the jerk who'd made that remark, and were now glaring at Buneary, with some people even booing at her.

Pikachu's heart felt like it'd been stabbed with the same ice that was getting Buneary into trouble. H-how… how could they even _think_ such a thing!?

"[O-oh no! They're blaming her!]" Leavanny said, trembling in alarm. "[But she's so nice, s-so why would they…?]" Pikachu didn't have an answer for him.

"Oh man, I didn't want _this_ to happen!" Ash exclaimed, freaking out. "Ughh, there has to be some way I can help Buneary out…" He began frantically looking around for a way to get involved somehow. Unfortunately, he seemed to be coming up short of any ideas.

"N-now, now, folks!" Hoste said, picking her microphone up and speaking into it. "C'mon, there's no need for that. She hasn't done anything wrong!" Despite her best attempt at damage control, however, she was ignored. Everyone was far too blinded by their obsession with Oshawott to care.

Looking over, the mouse could see Dawn getting riled up. Straining his ears, he could also hear her, though only barely. "_Hey_! Don't treat my buneary that way, you jerks! She's innocent!" Unfortunately, her words were getting drowned out by the increasing noise. The rest of her pokémon tried to chip in too, but it had little effect.

Everyone's reactions were nothing compared to Buneary's, though. Becoming visibly more and more distressed, she was covering her face with her fur, as if to hide away from all of the hurtful heckling. Eventually, though, she couldn't take anymore, and burst into tears before running over to Dawn for comfort, who stopped yelling to scoop her up into a hug.

…

Pikachu's face furrowed into a deep scowl. _Nobody _made Buneary cry.

Absolutely _furious_, Pikachu jumped off of Ash's shoulder and landed onto Hoste's table. Afterwards, he yanked the mic out of her hands via the cord and, while making sure to disguise his voice, yelled, "[Everyone **_shut up_**!]"

Almost immediately, everyone in the audience, both pokémon and humans alike, immediately quietened down and stared in Pikachu's direction. Some of them even recoiled slightly, though Pikachu wasn't sure if it was the harsh tone of his voice, the daggers he was glaring at everyone or the noisy sparks that occasionally flew off of his cheeks in his anger that scared them. Nor did he care. "[Listen to yourselves! You're all blaming this cute, innocent girl for something that she had absolutely no control over! I mean, how could you even accuse someone like her?]" he shouted, pointing in Buneary's general direction.

Everyone followed his finger and turned their attention to Buneary, who was still crying her heart out in Dawn's arms, with her sobs being audible in the now-quiet room. After noticing that, the people and pokémon started to guiltily mutter to themselves.

"[On top of that,]" Pikachu continued, "[this girl even helped to save Oshawott's life, when she was stuck in that icy tower that _nobody_ except for Buneary and Snivy tried to rescue her from. If it wasn't for this girl helping Snivy, Oshawott would be way, _way_ more sick right now! Heck, maybe even worse...]"

The pokémon in the crowd started to murmur worriedly as the implications of this fact set in.

Pikachu gave an assertive nod. "[So yeah, think of that next time you try to accuse sweet girls like Buneary. That's all,]" he finished, dropping the mic and turning on his heel, before jumping back onto his trainer's shoulder.

Ash could do nothing but give the mouse a bewildered look as Pikachu settled. "Err… y-you okay there, buddy?"

Pikachu slowly exhaled through his nose before nodding, his frown fading. "Pikachu, Pikapi…"

Hoste, who'd taken a step back as Pikachu had started his rant, picked up the microphone. "I… can't understand pika-speak, obviously, but I think I know what she might have been saying," she started, before mirroring the things that the mouse had yelled earlier. It was paraphrased, understandably, but she managed to relay Pikachu's message to the now-remorseful humans in the crowd well enough, which was appreciated. "…so yes, I think we should all be thanking Buneary! Perhaps by buying her some officially licensed Osha-flowers from the gift shop, if only to say that we're sorry for being so mean to her." She put the microphone down. After a few seconds, she picked it up again. "…while buying some other officially licensed Osha-branded gear, to support our favorite otter and-" Pikachu mentally tuned her out.

After hearing that, most of the crowd cleared away and left for the gift shop. The ones who did stay, however, began to cheer and chant Buneary's name, as if she were some kind of divine hero.

Pikachu smirked. _Much_ better. His smirk shifted into a very warm smile, as he saw Buneary's face change from one of despair to one of surprised glee.

A small while later, most of Osha's fans returned with many bunches of pink flowers, much like the one that had decorated Oshawott's head. As they arrived, they sprinkled them in Buneary's direction like some kind of confetti.

The sight of Buneary enjoying all of the praise that came her way warmed Pikachu's heart. Especially when she managed to lock eyes with Pikachu, and gave him the most appreciative look that he'd received from anyone in a long time. He gave her a peace sign with his fingers, which she responded to with a cheery wave that made the mouse's smile all the bigger.

"[D'awww~]" Leavanny cooed, dreamily cupping his cheeks. "[That was so nice of you, Pikachu! You were like her knight in angry, shining armor~]"

Pikachu chuckled. "[Hehe yeah… I guess I was. Well, someone had to stick up for her, y'know? I'm just glad I stopped 'em before they started attacking her, or throwing things. Or worse…]"

Leavanny beamed. "[Tee hee! It's no wonder that she's so fond of you~]" He started rubbing his arm awkwardly. "[Um, er, as a friend, of course. I'm not implying that she wants to court you, or anything.]"

Pikachu shook his head amusedly. "[Yeah, I get ya, Leaf.]"

"Good job, buddy!" Ash chimed in, praisingly. "Looks like everyone's really liking her, now!"

"Pika~" Pikachu replied, happily. He grimaced as he realized something, though. He really hoped that Oshawott's fans didn't convert to rabid Buneary fans. While she did deserve the attention, something like that would almost certainly end in tears.

After allowing everyone to celebrate for a while, Hoste started to speak into her microphone again. "Well then, folks! Looks like it's time for our next contest battle! And, seeing as Ashley only has one pokémon left, it seems that Pikachu's the next one up!" The crowd cheered in response. "Let's see just how well Buneary's new, little friend squares off against her!"

After Hoste finished, everyone cleared away back to their seats, while Ash and his team went back to their side of the hall.

Was the mouse ready for Dawn and Buneary's challenge? He couldn't tell. However, he knew one thing for certain: no matter what happened, Pikachu would give it his all!

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED!**

* * *

**Finished:** 17/01 (January)/2015 (Happy New Year!)

**Word count:** 7,323

**VGS2's pointless notes:** Do you ever look at the screen and wonder "What the hell have I just written?" This chapter's given me that feeling many times, believe me (especially after ravengal's beta reading).  
…Well, not quite as much as the Smash Brothers fic that you can find on my profile, mind, but heyho!

Oh well, I needed some action scene writing practice, so why not? Lesson learned, however: never attempt ficcing while listening to the music from Fox's Final Destination stage, or you'll regret it with an extra, actiony chapter.

Still, I got the unlikely rivalry out of the way! Or, more accurately, the start of it. Honhonhon! I'm going to get lynched on the street just like Buneary almost was.

Anyways, yeah, look forward to the next chapter's fabled contest battle! Should be fun, if not a little overhyped. Maybe.

Oh yeah, in other news, you guys noticed the new title? I've been meaning to give it one for a while, but I was afraid that it was too spoilery… but then I decided that it was stupid anyway, so here's one that isn't spoilery at all. Hope you like it! :P

I've also changed the chapter name of the previous chappie from 'Crazy Conundrum' to 'Capped Conscious', just to remove a bit of redundancy. Hope you don't mind too much!

**For added hilarity: **Try listening to a song called 'Andy Asteroids' from Earthworm Jim (any version) while reading the chase scene. It makes everything beautiful, I promise.

**Shameless self-promotion: **If you don't review, favourite and/or follow this story, Oshawott's fans will come after **_you_** next! (Disclaimer: Not really)

Also, please feel free to vote on my Smash Brothers poll! How Captain Falcon's at joint last, I will never know…

Thanks to the people who've supported me so far, especially my lovely pre-reader, ravengal. You guys are sweet as all hell! :3

Right, and with that, I'm off to unlikely rivalry. Tata for now! c:

* * *

**Next up:** No otters, or caterpillars, or snakes… _only_ _lagomorphs_!


	9. Rare Rivals

**Last time on Contest Conundrum...**

*Guitar solo*

Rolling around at the speed of caterpillar! Got Osha fans to escape, gotta _protect Buneary_!

Can't stick around, have to keep unlikely rivalry-ing on! Guess what battle's ahead, only _one way to find out_!

* * *

**Chapter 9****: **_Rare Rivals_

* * *

Pikachu walked towards the middle of the arena, with Buneary doing the same. As he did so, the mouse couldn't help but notice that whenever he looked at any of the spectators in the stands, they would flinch in response. Gosh, he hadn't been _that_ intimidating, had he? Well, whatever. Even if everyone on the _planet_ found him scary now for doing what he did, he would've still done it to keep Buneary safe from blame.

As the mouse and rabbit approached each other, passing by the host, Hoste, in the process, Pikachu gave the bunny a friendly wave. "[Hi, Buneary!]" he said while, of course, disguising his voice.

Buneary giggled and waved back. "[Teehee! Heya, Femchu~]"

"[Man, it really sucks that you had to go through that stupid madness, earlier. Hope you're alright,]" Pikachu said, speaking over the host's announcements for the upcoming battle.

Buneary nodded, smiling. "[Oh, totally, thanks to you!]" She quickly closed the distance and gave him a small hug, which he eagerly returned, earning them a 'D'awww' from some of the audience. "[Thank you so, so much!]" As the hug continued, he tried to ignore the fact that his heart was beating faster than hers… After a short while, they broke off. "[Man, if it wasn't for you, I'd have been…]" Buneary shivered. "[Holy Raikou, I don't even wanna think about it…]"

Pikachu gave a nervous chuckle. "[Heh, yeah… Oh well, don't mention it! You're a lovely girl, so I just had to stick up for ya. Anyone who thinks that you'd do something like that on purpose is missing some brain cells.]"

She smiled. "[Teehee! Yeah… Well, thanks again, Femchu! You're super, mega nice, you know that? You really remind me of my… er, my best friend.]"

Pikachu raised an eyebrow while smirking knowingly. "[Oh yeah?]"

"[Yeah! He's really nice, too. I dunno if he'd ever do something like that for me, though. I mean, maybe, but… hmm…]" she said, trailing off while frowning to herself.

Pikachu stopped smirking. "[Er, something wrong, Buneary? You sound like you don't have much faith in me- err, I mean, this friend of yours.]"

"[Huh? N-no! I do!]" Buneary exclaimed, shaking her head. "[I totally trust him! I'm just… I dunno, don't mind me! Hehe!]"

Jeez, what was _that_ reaction? Did she have something to hide? It was sounding like it…

Before Pikachu could ask anything, however, he noticed that Hoste had already begun flipping her turn-deciding coin, meaning that the battle was imminent. Tsk…

The coin landed tails-side up, revealing that Pikachu was the one to move first. As the lights dimmed and a spotlight hovered over Pikachu, Hoste moved over to her table and spoke into her mic. "_Alrighty then, girls… begin_!"

"[Oops, time to start!]" Buneary said, sounding pleased.

"[Yup, seems like it,]" Pikachu replied, sighing. Afterwards, he clenched his fist. "[Oh well. May the best woman win, Bun!]"

Buneary nodded back determinedly as she moved out of the way. "[Yeah, same to you, Femchu!]"

"Okay, Pikachu!" Ash yelled, disguising his voice. "Use Electro Ball towards the sky, and then smack it towards the ground with Iron Tail!"

After hearing that, Pikachu started to gather electricity in his cheeks, which soon traveled down to his tail, letting off many big sparks in the process. "[Electro Ball!]" Doing a backwards flip, he launched a large ball of electricity into the air from his tail, which traveled a long way before hanging in the air. After a while, it fell back down towards the mouse, who was more than ready for it. "[Iron Tail!]" After some glowing, his entire tail started to shine like polished metal (save for the tip, which he hoped nobody would notice). Once the falling ball of electricity reached him, the mouse slammed his metallic tail into it, launching the projectile into the ground and causing a big explosion of electricity.

After the smoke dissipated, hundreds of floating, glittering sparkles could be seen hanging in the air, with electricity occasionally leaping from one sparkle to another. It was like watching stars in the night sky, complete with the occasional meteor. Not half bad!

As the crowd clapped in response, Pikachu was quick to inspect the tip of his tail for damages. Thankfully, the heart-tip stood strong, allowing Pikachu to sigh in relief. Ash must've used some real strong paper for this thing! Either that or paper was strong against electricity and steel, even after a smashing impact. On that thought, the mouse really hoped that he would never have to go up against a paper-type pokémon. They sounded surprisingly tough all of a sudden…

"_Wow, folks! Such a shining start to the match_!" Hoste yelled into her mic excitedly. "_Let's see if her pal can top it!_" A spotlight shone over Buneary.

Noticing the sparkles, Dawn ran a hand through her hair while frowning. Afterwards, she dismissively shook her head and pointed forwards. "Buneary, use Ice Beam on those lights to make a big block of ice!"

"[Best of luck, Buneary!]" Pikachu shouted, moving a fair distance away to give the bunny some space to perform.

Buneary nodded cheerfully in response. Afterwards, she faced the sparkles as a light blue ball of energy formed in front of her mouth. "[Iiiiice _Beam_!]" Afterwards, a streak of icy cold energy shot out of her mouth and engulfed the sparkles, encasing them in ice. Afterwards, she hopped around the arena while continuously shooting her beam at the block of ice, which caused it to rapidly grow.

As the sculpture grew and grew, Pikachu noticed that, thanks to the sparkles, the ice was glowing a bright yellow, with sparks of crackling electricity occasionally flying out of it.

Eventually, after lots of freezing, Buneary stood in front of a big block of charged, luminescent ice which extended all the way to half the hall's height.

Pikachu's eyes widened in awe. It was like staring at gold! Especially when the lights in the hall were turned off, showing off just how brightly the thing shined.

Despite that, though, Dawn still had something else to add. "Great! Now use Dizzy Punch and Bounce to turn that block into a sculpture!"

Ears glowing, and with a cry of, "[Dizzy-Dizzy-Dizzy Punch!]", Buneary lunged forwards and slugged the massive block of ice with a long string of punches, which rapidly caused many key parts of the block to crack up with each strike. Afterwards, she used Bounce to reach the higher parts of the ice, which were also viciously punched into splintering.

After a lengthy boxing session with the ice, Buneary landed, jumped towards the sculpture, and then kicked it in its center with both feet before rebounding off, spinning all the way back down to a perfect landing. As she landed, all of the ice's cracked sections came crashing down due to her kick, leaving behind a giant, electrical heart of ice.

…Hoo boy. With moves like that, Pikachu was, to put it politely, screwed. How could he compete with beauty like hers!?

…He wondered if anyone could see his flushed face in this dim hall, as he realized that he'd basically called Buneary beautiful. Jeez, what was _with_ him today!? One would think that the mouse had taken a page from Brock's book, if not taken the entire book itself…

"_Gosh, what a counter, folks!_" Hoste's voice blared out, accompanied by the audience's applause. "_Though I'm sure Ashley has something to respond to it with. Let's find out what!_"

While Buneary preemptively moved out of the mouse's way, Ash started his next instructions. "Pikachu, use Thunderbo- Err, I mean, use Iron Tail to turn the sculpture into a thunderbolt!" He scratched his wig. "Err, into a… lightning bolt, even." Pikachu shook his head bemusedly. His trainer really needed to take a break from being a trainer for a while.

Either way, Pikachu followed the instruction and, using Quick Attack for an extra speed boost, ran towards the sculpture while his tail started to glow. Once he was close enough, he leapt into the air, twirled around once, and then yelled, "[Iron Tail!]", slamming his metallic tail into the side of the heart, which instantly caused a humongous, jagged crack to form down the side of the ice.

As Pikachu prepped himself to whack it again, he stopped as he realized, in amusement, that the crack in the sculpture kind of made the thing look like a broken heart. He chuckled as he spotted that, and turned his head to see if Buneary had noticed it too. He was surprised, however, when he saw Buneary looking disturbed by the sight, as if she'd just seen something particularly shocking. Afterwards, she began to stare down at the floor, as if lost in her thoughts.

How weird. Was she annoyed by the way that Pikachu had broken her lovely ice sculpture? Well, probably not. It didn't explain why she was sighing right now, and distractedly looking at the ground...

"C'mon, Pikachu, we're not done yet!" Ash's feminine voice rang out, snapping Pikachu out of his thoughts. Whoops! He'd forgotten that he was contesting right now. Oh well, he'd worry about Buneary after they were finished. Right now, he had some ice to smash!

After taking a step back, Pikachu lunged forwards again and slammed his tail into the other side of the ice, causing another similar crack to appear. Afterwards, he forcefully shot a small surge of electricity out of his cheeks, which energized the tower even further, causing its cracked parts to burst outwards and crash to the sides.

Finished, he stepped back to admire his work, and was pleased to see that the sculpture now looked like a giant, golden lightning bolt with a heart-shaped tip, just like the one on his tail! The yellow light from within was even pulsating, making it look really authentic!

Amongst the sounds of cheering, Hoste spoke again. "_Despite her little distraction, it looks like Pikachu's pulled off a successful counter! And not a bad one, at that! It's gonna be a tough one to beat, for sure!_" With that said, the spotlight focused back onto Buneary, who was absently looking down at her feet.

"Okay, Buneary, jump onto the top of that lightning bolt with Bounce!" Dawn yelled, pointing towards the tip of the sculpture.

Buneary… did absolutely nothing in response, save for continuing to stare off into space.

Dawn started to look concerned. "…Er, Buneary?"

Still no response.

After a few more seconds of inactivity, Pikachu moved over and tapped Buneary on the shoulder. "[Er, yo, Bun?]"

Her coiled ear sprang up as she panickingly turned to meet his gaze. "[H-huh!? What's up?]"

"[Well… it's your turn. Dawn was just telling you what to do.]"

She looked down at the light around her feet, her ear recoiling. "[…Oh, whoops! Er, eheh, what did she say again, sorry?]"

He pointed towards the tip of the lightning sculpture, and told her Dawn's instructions. That wasn't all he said, though. "[Is something wrong? Ever since I broke your heart- er, sculpture earlier, you've been acting a bit… distant-y.]"

"[Oh, eheh, nah, it's okay. It just… reminded me of something when it got cracked, is all. Don't worry about it. Anyways, I'd better go get this done!]" And with that, she quickly hopped towards it.

Pikachu slowly shook his head as he watched her go. She'd used that voice again… the one that she'd used earlier, too, after Pikachu's real identity was nearly discovered. A really shy, almost saddened kind of voice. It still reminded Pikachu of something, though he still wasn't quite sure what.

Well, either way, it didn't suit her at all…

As Buneary reached the foot of the bolt, she yelled, "[Bounce!]" before leaping up the sculpture, using one of the jagged edges as a foothold as she went up. Once at the top, she landed onto a round tip of the heart-lightning on one foot, and then balanced there while waiting for her next orders.

"Okay, now spin around while using Ice Beam to create lots of mist!" Dawn yelled.

Buneary responded by quickly spinning around on her one leg like a ballerina. As she did so, she shot out a weak Ice Beam, which only extended for a meter or two before dissipating. However, as the beam faded, it left behind lots of mist, which soon built up into a very, very large cloud of thick, fog, making Buneary very hard to see.

As the cloud expanded, it eventually touched the sculpture and, in turn, became electrified, making it dark and thunderous, just like a heavy, rainless raincloud. A short while afterwards, Buneary emerged from the raging, foggy storm, and landed using Bounce.

Man… the sculpture alone looked really awesome, but when combined with that electrical fog, it looked like a big storm cloud was shooting down a huge bolt of lightning! To say the least, Pikachu was impressed, as were the now-applauding audience.

"_Gosh! Talk about putting someone else's moves to good effect, folks!_" Hoste said energetically. "_I'm almost tempted to make a comment on how 'electrifying' her performance was! …But I won't._" Pikachu thanked his lucky stars. "_I've no idea how they're gonna manage it, but let's see if Ashley and Pikachu have anything up their sleeves for the counter_!" The spotlight hovered over Pikachu again.

Well… Pikachu had no idea how that could be countered. Looking over to Ash, he could see his trainer giving the lightning storm a completely blank look, as if unsure what to do. Oh no, could this be it…? Eliminated from the match because of the mouse's own element working against them?

Looking around for inspiration, Pikachu noticed Buneary waiting out of the way, and acting more alert than before. He also noticed that she was patting down her fluff, which had puffed up, due to being around the static from the sculpture for too long. It was pretty adorable, if not a little goofy. Quite like her…

…Gah! Now was not the time to be thinking about how cute Buneary was! _Again_! Pikachu shook his head and stared at the ceiling, attempting to distract himself with the shadows cast by the ceiling's safety equipment. Jeez, if he kept up that line of thinking, he really would turn into Brock….

…Wait a second.

Pikachu stared intently at the ceiling's electronics. Brock…

* * *

**…****Years ago…**

* * *

Pikachu watched as Ash held out a pokéball and opened it. "Pidgeotto, return!" As he yelled that, a red energy completely covered the dazed bird on the rocky field, and pulled it into that scary capture device which Pikachu wanted nothing to do with.

Poor pigeon. How anymon could go into that prison and still keep their sanity was beyond Pikachu.

"Are you giving up again, Ash?" Brock, the leader of this gym, asked with his arms cockily folded.

As he said that, his pidgeotto-beating geodude floated downwards, like some kind of freaky puppet on strings. While the geodude did that, he glared at Pikachu while flexing, as if to try and intimidate him. Hmph, he'd teach that rocky punk a lesson or two! Him and his cocky rock-trainer!

"_No way_!" Ash responded to Brock, before thrusting an arm outwards. "Pikachu, I choose you!"

Yeah, speaking of kicking rocky butt, it was show-time! Full of confidence, Pikachu nodded and walked out onto the rock-filled arena. "[Yeah, let's go!]"

"The pikachu again… I feel sorry for it; being raised by such a _weak_ pokamon trainer," Brock sneered, being the smug _jerk_ that he was.

"Pikachu! Now's our chance to show him how '_weak_' we are!" Ash yelled, unfazed by the rock-obsessed housewife's words.

Gathering electricity in his cheeks, the mouse smirked. Damn straight it was! "[Thunder… _BOOOOOOOLT_!]" Lightning launched forwards from Pikachu's cheeks, engulfing the geodude in a super large dose of electrical, hot death, which made him yell. After a little while, the electricity caused a small explosion of smoke, covering the geodude in soot, and possibly first-degree burns. If living rocks could even get those.

After that, the geodude didn't stay floating for much longer. "[Guhh….]"

Aww yeah! The electrical torture- er, training that Pikachu had gone through the other day worked! This move was _way_ better than Thunder Shock! Not even being part _ground_-type would save anybody from the mouse's wrath, now!

Brock looked shocked, no pun intended. Soon afterwards, he frowned and brought out a pokéball. "Return, Geodude!" The ball's red energy enveloped the rocky guy and pulled him into the ball. After that, the pokéball shrunk in Brock's hand, giving Pikachu the unpleasant image of Geodude being squashed down in that thing. Ughh…

"It looks like you've trained it better…" Brock started, putting the ball away, "but still, it's _no match_ for Onix!" He pulled out another pokéball and threw it. "_Goooooo_!"

While in mid-flight, the ball opened, releasing a white energy that soon materialized into the humongous, rocky snake that Pikachu hated so much.

The mouse very nearly wet himself as the towering abomination locked eyes with him, smirking. "[Heyy, well if it isn't Mr. Squishy! Back for more, I see…]" the onix growled tauntingly.

Pikachu tensed very hard as he heard that. Oh no… he didn't want to be squeezed again! Jeez, why were snakes always such _jerkheads_!? This guy, the ekans from Team Rocket and just about every snake on the planet could just go to Hell forever, as far as Pikachu was concerned. Something that he was sure he would never regret thinking.

Not wanting any of this snakey guy's business, Pikachu immediately charged up another Thunderbolt. "[Th-Thunderbolt!]" Panicked, he began shooting off electricity with reckless abandon, not really caring where the bolts ended up, as long as they kept that _thing_ at bay.

As he fired off bolt after bolt of lightning, he heard Ash yelp, as if dodging one of them. Hearing that almost made Pikachu stop, but then he reassured himself that Ash was pretty much used to being a lightning rod anyway, so the mouse decided to ignore him. He'd live! Hopefully.

After some more zapping, Pikachu saw one of his bolts strike the side of the onix, causing the guy to cry out in pain. As he saw that, the mouse grinned. Yes! If that could hurt the snake, then it meant that Pikachu had a chance to win! Invigorated by his newfound hope, he pumped up the voltage. As he did so, he heard something shatter above him. Whatever it was wasn't important enough to distract the mouse, though.

"Hey, Pikachu! Watch where you're aiming, huh?" Ash loudly criticized. Pikachu decided that he would take those words into careful consideration later, when he _wasn't_ fighting for his freaking life!

All of a sudden, though, before he could continue zapping, he smelled something burning. Eh? Stopping the electrical onslaught, he followed the scent upwards to the ceiling, where he realized that he'd accidentally set some of the lights above on fire with his lightning. Whoops…

As he was distracted by the burning lights, Onix quickly took advantage of the situation and surrounded Pikachu with his rocky tail. Oh… crap.

Immediately afterwards, Pikachu once again found himself wrapped up in this jerk's tail, which soon tightened and lifted him up into the air, squeezing the breath out of him.

Ash gasped in shock. "_Pikachu_! Give it a Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu panted a few times before yelling, "[ThunderBOOOOOLT!]" He then unleashed everything he had on the onix, causing the snake to scream in pain. This mouse wasn't going down without a fight!

"Hang in there, Pikachu! It's working!" Ash shouted.

"Onix! _Bind it_!" Brock yelled.

From there, it was a battle of endurance for the two pokémon. Pikachu felt his entire body getting squeezed into a ball, whilst Onix yelled in agony at the intense amount of electricity being pumped into him. Both of them were giving it everything they had, but as each of them increased the pressure, the other one did so doubly as much. It was an endless cycle of _agony_.

Pikachu gasped painfully. He couldn't… give up! He had to… win this thing… and get Ash his badge…! They had to become… pokémon masters… Ugh…

Unable to take any more pain, Pikachu couldn't keep going. His electricity fizzled out. "[Damn…it…]"

"Pikachu…" Ash said sympathetically.

"[Aha…! Nice try, squish ball!]" the onix roared, triumphantly, having already recovered from the intense shocking. Had Pikachu's attack really accomplished that little…?

Before his thoughts could continue, he suddenly felt his body getting contracted again, with no resistance on his part this time. Eventually, the pain grew so much that he shrieked.

Ash groaned desperately, sounding conflicted. Oh no, he was going to call the battle off _again_, wasn't he? Ughh, Pikachu couldn't believe he'd let Ash down again…

Before he could say anything, though, Brock stepped in. "Onix, stop!"

As soon as that was said, Onix obeyed by unfolding his long tail, allowing Pikachu to feebly droop to the ground. Wow… was it natural to feel like a plate of yellow jello? The mouse was too dazed to decide.

"No, Brock! I wanna play this match to the end!" Ash yelled defiantly.

"There's no point in going on," Brock responded. "I really don't wanna hurt your pokamon."

Knowing that the guy was right, Ash could do nothing but groan disappointedly in response. Pikachu felt sorry for him. His trainer had really wanted that win, too, and Pikachu really wanted to have not been squashed half to death. Unfortunately, it looked like the miracle hadn't happened for either of them…

As the room grew silent, Pikachu could swear that he heard some crackling. It was getting louder, too. Following the noise to the ceiling, he reali- _Holy crap, the whole ceiling was on fire_! The fire from the lights must have spread! _Aghh_!

Before the mouse could panic, however, water started pouring from little, metal prongs that were in the ceiling, which quickly doused the flames. Huh, was that some kind of human invention to stop fires? If not, then it was the luckiest torrential downpour that Pikachu had ever experienced in his life, especially seeing as they were indoors.

The fire wasn't the only thing that the rain was dousing, though. Before too long, the onix began to scream in pain. "[Oh, _dear helix fossils_! My skin! It _burns_!]"

Huh, what was with that guy? For a while, Pikachu wondered if someone had put acid into the watery things above… but that wouldn't make sense. Pikachu felt absolutely fine, and he was getting soaked too. How weird.

"Ash!" a female voice from above called out. Both Pikachu and his trainer looked towards the voice, and saw the nice, but weird, orange-haired lady that kept stalking Ash. She was currently standing on a spectator balcony, surrounded by Brock's many brothers and sisters, or the 'Brocklings' as Pikachu had taken to calling them. "Rock-pokamon are weakened by water!" she continued.

Ohhh, of course! No wonder that stuff was having such a super effect on Onix! The water must have been eroding him, or something! That was… pretty gruesome-sounding, actually. Ouch…

Hearing the ginger girl's advice, Ash found his lost determination and yelled Pikachu's name, as if it were an instruction.

Pikachu nodded in understanding. He knew what he had to do! "[Thunder… BOOOOOOOLT!]" He let loose a humongous stream of electricity, which travelled across the water and struck the soaked onix, frying him like bacon and causing his screaming to intensify.

Eventually, after _lots_ of relentless zapping, the rocky giant toppled over, allowing Pikachu to cut the electricity off.

"[Oh _nooo_! _Timberrrrrrruurgghh_!]" Onix yelled as he painfully slammed into the ground below him. Afterwards, he lay there, twitching and groaning in pain.

"_Onix_!" Brock yelled exasperatedly.

H-he'd done it. Pikachu'd actually _won_!

He stood in front of the fallen behemoth, letting a few sparks noisily escape his cheeks for effect. Yes! Thanks to the power of cheating, they'd finally done it! They'd finally beaten that closed-eyed punk, Brock! Yeah, if they kept this up, there was no way that they couldn't beat the pokémon league some day! They were the bes- …Hey, why were the Brocklings climbing down from the balcony?

* * *

**…****Currently…**

* * *

Pikachu shook his head, clearing away the memories that had just flashed by. Whoa… that was more than a little crazy. And since when had Pikachu been so much of a chubby jerk? He didn't remember having such a filthy mouth…

Still, he remembered that day well… the day when he and Ash had gotten their very first gym badge, the Boulder Badge. It still seemed so surreal, though; before Ash could order Pikachu to finish off Onix, the Brocklin- er, Brock's family had grabbed a hold of the trainer, and caused his conscience to flare up, making him end the match in a draw, sparing Onix from getting harmed any further.

That should have been the end of that… but then, surprisingly, Brock had run after the duo as they'd left the gym, ready to give Ash the badge anyway for showing such compassion towards pokamon- err, pokémon, even though he'd had a chance to win otherwise. After that, Brock's father, Flint, had came out of hiding, taken on the duty of caring for the family that he had abandoned long ago, and allowed Brock to join Ash on his bizarre adventure. After that, the rest was history.

Pikachu sighed nostalgically. That'd been a good day… he also liked to think of that day as the one that had changed his views on being such a jerk forever, thanks to the compassion and fairness shown by Ash in that battle… though, judging by all of the electrocuting that he'd done to his trainer on days afterwards, he knew that it was a load of tauros crud.

Oh well, either way, at least the mouse was a much nicer mon now. Heck, he hadn't even fried Iris' bike yet, which was a mountain of improvement for him! …Then again, she didn't even have a bike, so… hmm, maybe not. He'd have to watch where he aimed in the next region, just in case…

"_Alrighty, everyone_!" Hoste's voice called out, snapping Pikachu out of his thoughts. "_Only a few seconds to go until we close shop on everything, and hand the victory over to Buneary and Dawn! Please hurry, Ashley_!"

…Oh yeah, the contest. Man, it was a good job that the mouse was fast at having flashbacks, or that could have ended pretty badly.

Looking around, Pikachu saw Ash frantically playing with his wig in thought, still unable to come up with a counter-performance, Leavanny staying close to Ash while looking worried, and Buneary watching all of them with interest. The stakes were really high, it seemed.

"_Going once…_!"

Despite that, though, Pikachu didn't panic, unlike his trainer. Heck, he even smirked. Thanks to the flashback, Pikachu already had a plan. It was that 'power of cheating' that was gonna get them through this!

…He tried to ignore all of the unfortunate implications that had just entered his mind from that statement. He'd make a really terrible role model.

"_Going twice…_!"

Without Ash's input, and without a second to spare, Pikachu ran towards the stormy lightning sculpture as quickly as he could.

"_Aaaand- Oh! Never mind, folks! It looks like our little Pikachu has a plan! If it doesn't work, however, then this victory belongs to Dawn's team_!"

Still running, Pikachu nodded to himself. He only had one shot at this… but he could do it! If he could take down a giant rock-snake when he'd barely even known what Thunderbolt was, then this was gonna be a piece of mago pie!

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED!**

* * *

**Finished:** 08/03 (March)/2015

**Brockling count:** 4,620

**VGS2's pointless notes:** Y'know, going off of that 'Last time on who cares' reminder at the top, I've just thought of something. If I, for whatever reason, wanted to, I could accurately replace all of the characters in this fic with Sanic the Hedgehag ones, couldn't I?

Pikachu would be Tails because he's a sassy nerd, Buneary would be Shadow because **_angst_**, Oshawott would be Sonic because he's a trainwreck, Leavanny would be Cream because he's Fluttershy-tier, Togekiss would be Vanilla (Cream's mum) because of gentleness and the shipping implications (hue), Snivy would be Knuckles because unlike Osha she don't chuckle (she'd rather flex her muscles), Piplup would be Eggman because Oshawott!Sonic obsession and, of course, Ash would be Big the Cat because hurpderp.

It would be the greatest fic of all time, except not at all. It would actually be horrible. I'm sorry I even brought the idea up. I mean, I enjoy the Sanic series, of course, but yeah…

…Don't mind my unrelated to the chapter ranting, I'm just procrastinating. I've barely written the first line of dialogue at the time of writing these pointless notes, y'know! Er, but that's terribly unprofessional, so don't tell anyone.

Oh, also, for anyone who's wondering, that Brock section was actually from episode 5 (Showdown in Pewter City). Episode _5_! My, how far we've come…  
I didn't really need to include a flashback to it, but wynaut, right?

**Edit**: Oh god, you guys. I just found out that, apparently, Cilan, Ash's Scraggy and Trip's Snivy all share a voice actor with Sonic and Shadow, during their 'Jason Griffith' days.

I'm so amused, you have no idea. "Gotta cook fast! Uh oh, it's speed up time! Smile, Princess Iris, smile! Where's that _**damn**_ fourth mago berry!? Etc..."

**Shameless self-promotion: **_Follow_ me! _Set_ me faves! Review me and we will _escape_ from this shi**y fic. I'll make it through, prove it to you! _Follow meh_! Oh _yeah_! (etc)

Y'know, if it wasn't for Security Hall, and… *shivers* Mad Space, I would actually totally play that game again. Bloody Rouge the Twat. It's a shame her levels aren't anywhere near as lovely as you people for all of the support you've shown so far, including ravengal, my lovely pre-reader! :3

Welp, with that said, I've gotta go, fast. Tata for now! c:

* * *

**Next up:** All gone to plan?


	10. Raging Rivulets

**Last time on Brock Troubles...**

Pikachu: "Oh bugger, how does I win the contest!?"

Kanto Pikachu: "Stop being a scrub, yo."

Pikachu: "Okie dokie! *Runs towards lightning bolt before getting cliffhanger'd"

-Also-

Lucas: "I'm back, bitches!"

Mewtwo: "Get on my level, nerd."

Lucas: "D:"

*Pollyanna .mp3*

* * *

**Chapter 10****: **_Raging Rivulets_

* * *

As Pikachu reached the tall, thunderous tower, he studied it for footholds to make his climb easier. Deciding on one of the jagged edges, he yelled, "[Quick…!]" and zipped up towards it, reaching halfway. As the first part of his move ended, he changed his trajectory, and yelled, "[…_Attack_!]" this time zipping onto the icy ledge. Once on the jagged edge, he did the same again to climb even higher, this time aiming towards the heart-shaped top of the lightning bolt.

As he landed onto the ice on all fours, he couldn't help but notice that standing on it sent a tingly feeling up his feet and paws, thanks to the sculpture's static electricity. It was a little unpleasant, but, being electric-type, it wasn't too bad. Poor Buneary, though. It must've stung like heck for her when she'd stood on the thing. That being said, she hadn't seemed too upset about being up here earlier, save for her super poofy fur, so maybe he was just worrying over nothing…

That tingly feeling wasn't the only problem inside the mini storm cloud, though; it was hard for the mouse to see anything other than murky darkness, save for the occasional jolt of electricity, which flew in front of his face, startling him. The darkness didn't matter, though. He already knew where he needed to go.

Jumping high into the air, Pikachu yelled, "[Quick Attack!]" and then zipped upwards twice, bringing him out of the storm cloud. Once he was high enough, he yelled, "[Thunder… BOOOOOOLT!]" and unleashed a massive surge of electricity towards the ceiling.

After a while of doing this, he stopped letting his Thunderbolt fly as he started to fall back down to the dark cloud below. As he fell down lower, his vision once again becoming obscured by the dark cloud, he grabbed the sculpture again, and held onto the top. There was nothing he could do now, except wait and hope.

Seconds went by, though each second was like another eternity to the mouse. After a small while, his heart started to race in concern. Why wasn't it working? Had he missed? Pikachu's ears began to droop. Oh man, he couldn't believe it. He'd screwed it up, hadn't he? And he was so sure of his plan working, too…

Before he could give up, however, he suddenly felt something wet drip onto his nose. As he looked up, a light trickle of water started to pour down from above, causing a big smirk to appear on his face, even though he was getting absolutely soaked through. Yes! His plan of creating rain for the storm cloud had worked! You could always bet on sprinklers being there to save the day!

As the makeshift rain poured down, he could hear the crowd making impressed noises, which was motivating. Despite that, though, he wasn't finished yet! Cloaking himself in electricity (which gave him a very shiny appearance, thanks to the water), the mouse leapt out of the storm cloud while spinning rapidly. As he came down, the light from his electricity, combined with all the water, caused a big, colorful trail to follow behind him.

After reaching the ground and landing onto his four paws, Pikachu stood up and spread his raised arms outwards while posing on one leg, causing a rainbow to briefly shine above him.

…That was probably the girliest thing that he'd ever done. Words couldn't express how glad he was that only Ash and Leavanny had seen that. Well, the only ones who knew that he was in disguise, anyway.

As the electricity that covered his body subsided, the audience burst into applause, making the mouse smile. As they praised him, he noticed that, thanks to the glow of the sculpture, the water from the sprinklers was twinkling! Needless to say, Pikachu had really outdone himself. He'd had no idea that it would look so amazing!

Amongst the cheering, Hoste spoke through her mic. "_Wow, folks! She really used the environment to her advantage, didn't she? And without her trainer's orders, too! Smart mouse!"_ She paused._ "…And there's nothing in the rules about it, so… you get a discount on this one, Pikachu!_"

"Yeah! Way to go, Pikachu!" Ash praised loudly in his girly voice, which Pikachu triumphantly balled a fist at.

Looking at Buneary, as he walked back to his side of the arena, he saw her giving him a super impressed look, which made the mouse blush. It reminded him of all the times that she would praise him after a good battle, back when they'd been traveling together. It was a nice feeling that nobody else's praise ever gave him...

Dawn apparently didn't share the same feelings as Buneary, however. She was currently frowning, as if Pikachu's turnabout routine had thrown her for a loop. After some pondering, however, something seemed to come to her mind. "Buneary, jump on top of that structure and use Ice Beam to turn the water to snow!" she yelled, pointing. After a few seconds, though, her pointed finger faltered as she eyed up the storm cloud. "Actually… no, don't. It's way too dangerous up th-" Before she could finish, Buneary had already started hopping towards the sculpture. "H-hey, no, wait!"

Buneary hesitated for a second, but she didn't stop. With a surprising amount of determination, she quickly Bounced up the sculpture and made her way to the top, where she soon slipped out of view, due to the dark cloud.

As soon as he couldn't see her anymore, Pikachu began to worry, and, judging by Dawn's lip biting, it looked like he wasn't alone there. If Buneary didn't watch herself, she could end up in quite a bit of trouble…

That being said, she was very elegant and careful with what she did, so she probably knew what she was doing, Pikachu reassured himself.

As the cloud started to glow light blue, due to Bun's Ice Beam, Pikachu wondered about what Ash's counter plan could be. Maybe he'd ask Pikachu to zap the falling snowflakes to make them twinkly? Or maybe Ash had something more fancy in mind, like a hurricane of sparkling, electrical snow. Oh, or maybe he could even-

"[Eeeek!]"

Pikachu immediately snapped to attention as he heard a girly shriek. Oh no, what'd happened!? Looking up at the sculpture, his heart froze in place as he saw Buneary falling!

Immediately, Pikachu yelled, "[Quick Attack!]" and sped towards the sculpture on all fours, where Buneary was falling. As he got there, he stood, looked up and held his arms upwards, ready to catch her. Seconds later, Buneary came down into his arms and- Arrgh!

…Oh, right, she had Bounce, didn't she? Ouch… Pikachu dazedly flopped onto his back with his vision full of stars, and Buneary's big feet.

As she realized what had happened, Buneary freaked out and immediately stepped off of his face. "[O-oh no! Oh man, oh man, sorry, Femchu!]" She helped him into a sitting position. "[I'm so, so sorry!]"

"[Tha's alrigh', Bahnary…]" Pikachu replied, slurring like a drunken spinda girl. After a little while, he shook the dizziness away, though it didn't stop his head from throbbing... something that he kept to himself after seeing Bun's worried look. "[See? I'm fine! Besides, how about you? What happened? You okay?]"

Buneary looked relieved. "[Y-yeah, I guess so. I just… some electricity caught me off-guard, so I slipped,]" she replied, rubbing her ear tenderly.

"[Oh… well, I hope you're alright.]"

"[Yeah…]"

…He tried to ignore it, but, as he looked her over, he couldn't help but notice that her brown fur had gone all shiny, thanks to the water from the sprinklers pouring down on the two of them. It made her look so pretty…

Buneary started talking again. "[A-anyway, yeah, it's okay. I'm…]" She paused before gasping, her eyes locked onto him. "[Oh no! I made your face go all red…]"

Hearing that, Pikachu quickly turned away and covered his warm cheeks. "[Oh, er, don't worry about that! It's just… the adrenaline, y'know. Ehehe…]" he said, waving a hand dismissively, and hoping that the hall's darkness would hide just how red he was getting...

Alas, Buneary shook her head. "[No way that's just adrenaline, Femchu. Look, you're getting even redder by the second!]" Oh man… he was glad that she didn't know the real reason for the redness. Curse her and her pretty face…

Pikachu tried to reassure her that he was fine, but, before he could say anything, she'd already started moving towards Dawn, who was currently watching her in concern.

"[J-just stay here!]" she said, panicked. "[I'll go and get someone to help ya!]"

However, she barely got a chance to move before Hoste's voice blared out. "_Huh, I don't think she's in there, folks. Um… think you could try and find her with the spotlight, Love?"_

At her command, the spotlight moved from the top of the sculpture and wandered randomly. After a second or two, it found Buneary, who had started towards Dawn, though her pace slowed as she noticed the spotlight around her.

"_Oh, there she is, folks! Looks like she wasn't in the cloud after all!_" Hoste said. "_And it looks like she's alright, too, thank goodness! Unfortunately, though, it looks like she wasn't able to pull off her risky little maneuver, which means that our winner is Pikachu_!"

Pikachu's mouth opened wide in surprise as the audience applauded and the spotlight focused on him. He'd… won!? Still seated, he glanced over and saw Dawn looking down at her feet with her hands on her hips, as if disappointed with herself. Peering backwards, he saw Ash and Leavanny cheering for him excitedly, while Leavanny kept very close to Ash.

Pikachu didn't believe it. Did he seriously just manage to beat the best contest experts he knew, possibly ending the entire contest in his team's favor!? Wow, amazing! He'd actually pulled it off! Pikachu's team were the winn-

Buneary gasped. "[O-oh no, I lost…?]" She stopped hopping towards her trainer and stood there, before looking back and forth between the sculpture and Dawn in horrified disbelief. For one split second, as she looked at Ash, Pikachu caught a glimpse of her face and saw an expression of pure distressed shock. "[No, I… I… Oh…]" She stopped looking around and stared down at the ground. Then, after a moment, she started to very slowly walk back towards Dawn.

Pikachu's excitement faded away almost instantly. "[Er… are you alright?]" he called out.

She didn't answer, or even seem to notice him speak. She just kept walking, as if in a daze.

Before Pikachu could try and get her attention again, he noticed that she was walking towards a big puddle at the edge of the sprinkler's rain. Despite looking at it, she didn't seem to be paying it any attention, and, although it didn't seem electrified because of the sculpture, Pikachu still worried. "[H-hey, watch out for that-]"

"[Eek!]" It was too late. She reached the puddle and slipped, falling backwards onto her rear, and getting splashed by it in the process. After that, she just sat there, facing away from Pikachu.

Seeing that, he stood up. "[Oh man, Buneary, are you okay?]"

She didn't respond.

"[Buneary…?]" he asked again, slowly approaching her.

Suddenly, a loud sob pierced the air, and her paws flew to her eyes.

The second he heard that, Pikachu's breath caught in his throat. Without pause, he ran over and, with the spotlight in hot pursuit, stood in front of her and put both paws on her shoulders. "[Oh no, Buneary, p-please don't cry! What's the matter?]"

"[Oh, Femchu… I messed up! I-I've m-messed up so h-h-hard!]" Buneary said through her sobs.

Pikachu shook his head. "[No way, Bun, it's fine! You tried your bes- …O-oh.]" His heart froze in place as she looked up at him. On her face was the most pitiful look that he'd ever seen from her.

"[N-no I didn't… I-I could have d-done that properly, but…"] She buried her face into her paws again. "[Oh man, I'm s-such a big screw-up...!]"

The sight broke his heart. It was no secret that Buneary could be a little bit of a crybaby sometimes, especially if he gave her a scolding for whatever reason, but her tears would always dry up quickly afterwards, becoming all but forgotten minutes later. This crying, though… this was not one of those times. Right now, she seemed absolutely _miserable_. The contest couldn't have meant _this_ much to her, could it?

Not knowing what to say, Pikachu simply hugged her. His fur became soaked by her soggy fluff as a result, but he didn't care. "[No way, Buneary. You're no screw-up, so don't say that…]"

After he moved close enough for the spotlight to include her, the audience started to murmur worriedly, finally getting a proper glimpse of the sad rabbit in his arms.

"_Aww, poor Buneary. It looks like she didn't take the loss well at all,_" Hoste said, drawing some sympathy from the crowd. "_How about we have a short break to give 'em a moment to sort things out? I hear that we have some warm, snuggly clothes in stock that a certain, cold otter would love to warm up with_~!" Hearing that, the crowd immediately cleared out and headed towards the gift shop again. Normally, Pikachu would roll his eyes at that, but it gave Buneary some space to be comforted without hundreds of eyes staring at her, so he honestly couldn't be happier about it.

Glancing over Buneary's shoulder, as the hall's lights came back on and the sprinklers were turned off, Pikachu saw Dawn looking very worried all of a sudden. Hoste's announcement must have caught her attention.

After a small while, the sobbing stopped. Hearing that, Pikachu broke off the hug and helped Buneary to her feet. "[C'mon, Bun. Let's go and get you cleaned up, yeah?]"

She wiped her eyes and slowly nodded. "[Y-yeah…]"

Slinging an arm around her, Pikachu started towards Ash's side of the hall, leading Buneary away from the arena.

* * *

As Pikachu and Buneary arrived, Ash and Leavanny immediately approached them, looking very concerned.

Leavanny was the first to speak. "[Oh no, Miss Buneary, are you okay? Whatever happened?]"

"Hey, Pikachu, what's going on?" Ash asked, thankfully remembering to use his feminine voice. "Why'd you bring Buneary over here?"

"[She's feeling bad about what happened earlier,]" Pikachu explained, breaking off from Buneary and pointing towards the lightning sculpture.

Ash followed Pikachu's finger and saw it. "Huh, is she sad about losing, or something?" Pikachu nodded in response, making Ash frown. "Oh, well… is there some way I can help out?"

Pikachu shook his head before pointing to himself. "Pikachu, Pikapi."

"Oh, you've got this, huh? Well… okay then."

Buneary sniffled. "[Yeah, I… I should have listened to Dawn, but I didn't, and then I got distracted, so then… yeah.]" She looked down at her feet. "[It's no wonder that I didn't get anything last week. I'm the worst…]"

"[Aww, p-please don't say that!]" Leavanny interjected, kneeling down. "[I thought you were doing quite well out there. It was only a small mistake that any pokémon could have made, even me. Especially with all that scary lightning up there…]"

Pikachu nodded. "[Yeah, Bun. Heck, if it wasn't for me doing… what I did, you'd have easily won. Not many other mons could've ever gotten as far as you have.]"

Buneary sighed before smiling feebly. "[I… guess so. Thanks…]"

After a second or two, Pikachu walked up to Leavanny and said, "[Say, d'you still have that handkerchief you made earlier?]"

Leavanny tilted his head before realization kicked in. "[Oh, um, absolutely! Here you go.]" He brought out his soft, leafy handkerchief and offered it to Pikachu, who took it and thanked him.

Afterwards, Pikachu moved over to Buneary and smiled comfortingly. "[Hey, Bun? Want me to help you dry off? You're looking a bit soggy there.]"

"[Oh, er, s-sure thing,]" she replied, not expecting the request. Afterwards, she faced away from Pikachu and sat down, allowing him to get started with wiping her fur dry.

"Ah, I get it. You want to clean her up, do you?" Ash asked, watching them. "Well, lemmie help!" He reached down and pulled off Buneary's soggy vest before turning around and holding it out. "Okay, Snivy! Use your vines to wring out the- …Snivy?" He looked around for a few seconds before his shoulders drooped. "Oh, right… Well, I guess I'll just do it myself then." Pikachu shook his head in exasperation.

As he got started on the back of Buneary's coiled ear, Pikachu suddenly started feeling a bit awkward. "[Er, eheh, hope you're not finding this creepy, or anything.]"

Buneary tilted her head. "[Huh? No, not at all. Why would I?]"

"[Well, to be fair, it's not every day that some stranger asks to wipe your fur dry…]"

"[I guess… Oh well, you're super nice, so I trust ya. Besides, Dawn combs my fluff too, so it's not all that different.]"

Pikachu smiled, both at the compliment and at her positivity slowly returning. "[Well, okay then. If you're cool with it, then that's… well, cool.]" He chuckled awkwardly before getting back to work, making her giggle lightly in response.

After a little while, Leavanny had weaved another handkerchief out of some leaves, and began to join in with drying her.

As Pikachu got to work on drying the back of Buneary's extended ear, he could hear her making contented noises. Hearing that, he smirked. "[You enjoying yourself there, Bun?]"

"[Teehee, yeah! It's kinda like getting some kind of spa treatment~]" she replied.

"[Heh, I'll bet. Well, the Pikavanny spa's the best in the region for a reason!]"

Leavanny smiled and nodded. "[Absolutely! We'll sooth all of your troubles away!]"

Buneary giggled. "[I certainly can't argue~]"

Pikachu and Leavanny joined in the giggling before going back to drying her fur.

As Pikachu started on the back of her head, however, his heart did a loop-de-loop as he noticed how bright and vibrant her lovely, chocolate brown fur was. He'd never paid so much attention to it before, but it was so lush, and silky smooth, and… Oh no, he was doing it again, wasn't he? The whole 'acting like Brock' thing.

He tried to stop… but he just couldn't stop staring at her beautiful fur! Jeez, why did _everything_ about this bunny have to be so flipping adorable!?

…He tried to back-pedal on those thoughts again, but, this time, he just let them come to him. He couldn't deny something that was true; everything about her _was_ adorable! She was cute, friendly, playful, strong, and she had such a bubbly, energetic spirit about her, too. All in all, she was beyond awesome, and he loved every second he spent with her.

Pikachu felt a huge wave of warmth wash over his heart as he thought this over. Darn Leavanny and Snivy. They were right, weren't they? About his... his… romantic feelings for Bun.

…Urgh, why did this have to be so hard to admit!? Man… is this why Ash had never tried dating? Had he also gone through juggling around with his own conflicted feelings, as if they were made of fragile glass, which could shatter at any second?

…Nah, probably not. Ash knew as much about romance as Oshawott knew about subtlety, so the thought of him being conflicted over a crush was just hilarious.

As weird and confusing as this new feeling was for Pikachu, though, it made him feel… happy. Like everything was right with the world.

Now he _really_ hoped that his feelings were mutual.

"[H-hello, um, Pikachu?]" Leavanny said, snapping Pikachu out of his daydream. "[Are you okay? You've been drying Miss Buneary's head for a… a little while.]"

Pikachu looked down and realized that Leaf was right; in the mouse's daydreaming, he'd just been absentmindedly rubbing the same spot on the back of her head for an uncomfortably long time. Blushing, he quickly removed the handkerchief. "[Oh, er, s-sorry, Bun! My mind drifted for a sec, there.]" He scratched the back of his head. "[At least I didn't miss a spot. Eheh…]"

Buneary giggled. "[That's alright. It was nice and cozy-soft anyway, so I kinda liked it~]"

Pikachu smiled, especially after seeing that her depression had all but gone, with slightly reddened eyes being the only sign that she had ever been sad to begin with. "[Well, cool!]"

"Ah, there you are, Buneary! Oh, thank goodness!" a feminine voice said all of a sudden, catching everyone's attention. As they looked up, they all saw Dawn approaching them from the side of the hall, looking relieved to have found Buneary.

"Oh, h-hey Dawn!" Ash greeted, almost using his real voice out of habit.

"Bun!" Buneary said excitedly before waving towards her. Pikachu and Leavanny also waved while saying their own greetings.

Dawn gave everyone a short hello in return. Afterwards, she kneeled down next to Buneary, looking very concerned. "Are you okay, Buneary? You haven't hurt yourself, have you?"

"Bunbun," Buneary replied, shaking her head.

Dawn looked surprised. "Oh, you're okay? After the host mentioned that you were upset about losing, I saw you crying, but…" Dawn gave her a quick inspection. "…you're looking much better, now! And drier, too!"

Buneary smiled and nodded before gesturing towards Pikachu and Leavanny. "Buneary bun bun~"

Dawn looked at them. "Oh, have you been making her feel better?"

"Pika!" Pikachu replied, giving a thumbs up.

"Leavanny~" Leavanny said, smiling while still kneeled down.

Dawn beamed at them, moving over to stroke their heads. "That's great! Thanks to you both of you, she seems a lot happier now!"

Pikachu and Leavanny gave her a small cheer in response.

She looked at Buneary. "And I'll bet that this is where you were earlier, too, after that problem with the bowl of ice."

"Yeah, I think so," Ash chimed in, catching her attention. "I never got to see them properly, though. I was… busy."

"Huh, okay then!" She turned to face Buneary again. "I was wondering where you and Piplup had wandered off to. I'd have never guessed that you were just going away to make friends~ "

Buneary's smile became bigger. "Buneary~"

Returning the smile, Dawn bent over to scoop her up, allowing her to happily sat in Dawn's arms, cradle-style.

Once the bunny was comfortable, Dawn looked at her. "So what happened, Buneary? It was very dangerous up there, you know…"

Buneary looked down at her feet. "Buneary, Bun…."

Dawn held her closer. "Hey, it's okay, Buneary! Knowing that you're safe is more important than any contest," she said, making Buneary smile again. Afterwards, she winked. "Besides, I'll bet you were just trying to impress Pikachu by being risky like this one, right~?"

Buneary blushed and rubbed her arm. "…Buneary."

Pikachu was a bit confused by that. How did they know that he would be watching? That is, the 'real' him? This contest wasn't being televised, was it? Oh man… if that was the case, he really hoped that nobody had caught the shenanigans that had gone down earlier, such as the beak-licking, or the nose-biting. If that didn't start a rumor mill, then Pikachu didn't know what would…

"Here's her jacket," Ash said, handing her a very wrinkled-looking vest. "Sorry about all the creases."

Dawn took it. "Thanks! And no need to worry~. I can just straighten it out later."

Ash grinned after hearing Dawn's recognizable line. "Heh, well alright then!"

Dawn looked apologetic. "Hey, I'm sorry about all the trouble, Ashley. I would've gotten here sooner if only I'd gone _through_ the arena instead of around it. It's a longer trip than I thought…"

"Hey, it's alright, Dawn! Don't worry about it," Ash replied. "Buneary's been a very good… er, buneary."

Dawn brightened up. "Okay then, that's good. Yeah, she's a little angel, isn't she?"

Ash nodded. "Absolutely!"

Buneary blushed. "Buneary…~"

Dawn nodded cheerfully. Afterwards, she looked thoughtful. " …Say, y'know…" She tilted her head. "…you kind of remind me of someone, Ashley."

"O-oh, is that so?" Ash asked, noticeably starting to sweat.

"Yeah. Heck, you even have a similar name!" She giggled. "Hehe, I guess he must be the boyish version of you then, huh?"

Pikachu and Leavanny started to sweat as well. Uh oh.

"Oh, er, haha! What a funny coincidence, 'eh, Dawn?" Ash asked, nervously pulling on the neck of his dress.

Dawn raised an eyebrow in concern. "Hey, are you alright, Ashley?"

Ash stiffened. "Yeah, just peachy! I'm just… surprised at the… comparison, and stuff!"

Dawn started to eye him up, almost seeming suspicious of something. Even Buneary was starting to give Ash an odd look now. Oh man, this wasn't looking good! Oh, trust Ash to lose his cool now!

Suddenly, Pikachu thought of something. Wasting no time, the mouse moved forward and hugged Dawn's leg, catching her attention.

"Chaaa~" he said in as bubbly a voice as he could manage.

"Oh, Pikachu? What's the matter?" Dawn asked, looking down at him.

Face brightening, Ash pointed towards him. "Oh, look at that! Pikachu wants to say goodbye to Buneary! Haha, how cute!" he said excitedly. Maybe a little _too_ excitedly.

"Oh, is that right, Pikachu?"

"Pika pikachu!" he said, nodding happily.

"Well, sure! Are you okay with that, Buneary?"

"Buneary~" Bun replied, nodding.

"Okay then, well, here you go~" Dawn said, bending down to let Buneary hop out of her arms.

As Buneary landed, she moved over to Pikachu, who had let go of Dawn's leg to face the bunny. "[Well, I guess this is it, huh?]" she asked.

"[Yeah… for now, anyway,]" Pikachu replied. "[I get the feeling that this isn't the last we'll see of each other.]"

Buneary nodded. "[I hope so! You're a super good friend~]" After saying that, she continued to thank both pokémon for looking after her, receiving appropriate responses from them both as a result.

"Well, time to get going," Dawn said, looking back to her side of the hall. "I still need to get ready, and my other pokémon are probably wondering where I am."

"Okay then. Well, see ya, Dawn!" Ash replied, trying not to sound too relieved.

She waved and said her own goodbyes, which Buneary copied.

Before the two could leave, though, Pikachu had an idea. He moved forwards and gave Buneary a friendly hug. "[See you around, Buneary.]"

She acted surprised at first, but she soon wrapped her arms around him, too. "[See ya, Femmy~]"

Seeing the affection, Dawn cooed over them both, as did Leavanny. Ash didn't, however. Instead, he just smirked.

After a little while, the mouse and bunny both broke away from the hug. As they did that, though, Pikachu had one more thing to say. "[Hey, and remember to try and smile more, okay, Bun? Not for me, but for yourself. You deserve to be happier than you have been, recently...]"

She paused, looking thoughtful. Afterwards, she smiled softly. "[Yeah, I'll… I'll try. Thanks, Femmy.]" And with that, she hopped over to Dawn, who also turned and left after saying her own goodbyes.

As Dawn walked back across the arena, Pikachu saw something on Dawn's shoulder, hidden behind her ponytailed hair. Looking closer, Pikachu saw… _Piplup_? How on the planet had Pikachu not spotted that penguin already?

Then again, had Piplup even said anything while he was over here? Probably not. He was currently looking up at the ceiling, as if his mind was more distant than the sun. It didn't look like he'd even registered being over here at all. Tsk, if people thought that Oshawott was an obsessed pokémon, then they clearly hadn't met this guy yet…

* * *

Once Dawn moved out of earshot, Pikachu, Leavanny and Ash breathed a massive sigh of relief.

"Whew! Oh man, that was a close one…" Ash said in his normal voice, wiping the sweat from his brow. "Nice save there, buddy!"

"Pika, Pikapi!" Pikachu responded happily.

"Well… now that that's out of the way, I'm gonna go and get myself a drink. Do you want one?"

"Pikachu, Pikapi!" Pikachu replied, liking the sound of that.

"Leavanny~" Leavanny replied politely, also interested.

"Alright then, you two, stay here. I'll go and get us some!" Ash said before making his way over to the contest hall's gift shop.

Once the two pokémon were alone, Leavanny started to speak. "[That was a very nice thing of you to do, Pikachu! You're such an admirable friend~]"

Pikachu gave a soft chuckle. "[Heh, yeah…]"

Leavanny gave him a concerned look. "[Oh, what's wrong, Pikachu? Don't you agree?]"

The mouse sighed. "[Well… I dunno. I just get the feeling that she's still not feeling one hundred percent.]

Leavanny tilted his head. "[How so?]"

"[She's been like this all day. Constantly being sad and getting distracted by something I don't know about. She's not usually like that at all.]"

"[Oh dear, that is quite worrying… Whatever do you think might be causing this?]"

Pikachu shrugged. "[Not a clue. I mean, crying after the crowd started acting like jerks towards her was understandable, but she's never cried after losing a contest routine before. Heck, she even lost a _major_ contest once, and Dawn was way sadder than she ever was…]"

Leavanny nodded sympathetically before sitting down, legs crossed. "[Hmm… yeah, it sounds like something else is upsetting her, on top of everything that's happened in this contest.]"

"[I think you're right. Heck if I know what that 'something else' is, though…]" Pikachu sighed again, and stared at the lightning sculpture, which still hadn't been cleared away. "[I think you were right about something, though.]"

"[Oh, what's that, Pikachu?]"

Pikachu took a deep breath as he felt a blush coming on. "[I… I think you were right about me li…-]" He trailed off into mumbling.

"[I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that last part.]"

"[I, er, I said I think you were right about me liking Bune…-]" He trailed off into mumbling again. The mouse was starting to understand why Snivy was so stubborn about Oshawott all the time.

"[Umm… w-what was that again, sorry?]"

"[Ugh… I… I…]" Pikachu clenched his eyes shut. "[_I really like Buneary_!]"

Leavanny flinched. "[Eek! I'm sorry! D-don't be ma- …Wait.]" He stopped cowering and looked at Pikachu with wide eyes. "[Do you mean to say that you… _romantically_ like her?]"

Cheeks burning, Pikachu avoided his gaze and twiddled his fingers. "[Y-yeah… I do.]"

Leavanny's face broke out into a massive smile. "[D'awww, how wonderful~~!]"

A small smirk worked its way onto Pikachu's face. Somehow he knew that Leaf's 'romanticist mode' was going to kick in…

"[So, does this mean that you're going to tell her~?]"

Pikachu shook his head. "[No. Not yet, anyway…]"

Leavanny looked disappointed. "[Aww, why not?]"

"[Well, it's like I said before: I don't really wanna start acting like Oshawott. I mean, it's pretty possible that she might like me, and the only reason that I haven't found out yet is because she's shy, but… I dunno. I just don't think it's a good idea to ask if we can date until I learn more. It's real hard for me to explain…]"

"[…I see. You're afraid that she might turn you down and that it might affect your friendship too, right?]"

"[That's…. pretty much it, yeah! How'd you guess?]"

A light blush went across Leavanny's face. "[Oh, well… I might have had a… similar line of thinking once or twice, too. Maybe…]"

"[Huh, really? Does that mean that you've had a crush on somebody before, too?]"

Leavanny chuckled nervously. "[Eheheh, oh, um, perhaps…]" He dismissively shook his head. "[Er, b-but that's not important. We need to find you your happiness!]"

Pikachu gave him an odd look. Afterwards, he shrugged, deciding to drop the subject. "[Well, I guess… but how?]"

"[Well… you could always act as 'Femchu' and ask her if she likes the 'real' you. It would make it seem like a curious question between friends, and not like a confession~]"

"[Huh… that's surprisingly devious of ya, Leaf.]"

Leavanny giggled. "[Tee hee! Well, I do have my moments, sometimes~]"

Pikachu chuckled along with him. Afterwards, he stroked his chin in thought. Leavanny's plan certainly made sense. If Buneary said 'yes', then Pikachu could act on it later when he wasn't in disguise! And if she said 'no', then he could just forget all about it with no need for any drama.

…A small stab of pain went through his heart at the thought of her saying no. He really hoped that he didn't have to go through that...

"[Well… maybe,]" Pikachu eventually replied. "[It might be a good way to get her to stop dancing around the question, too.]"

"[Umm, what do you mean, sorry?]"

"[It's not the first time that I've asked her if she has a crush on me. Well, sort of. Sometimes, after she's been acting flirty towards me, I'd say stuff like, 'Gosh, it's almost like you've got a crush on me, or something'. Just jokingly, y'know?"

"[Oh, how does she respond to that?]"

"[She usually just giggles and covers her face with her fluff, before saying stuff like…]" Pikachu pulled his stretchy waist-fur up to his face, let one of his ears droop half-way and, in a girly voice, said, "['Ooh, now wouldn't _that_be interesting~?' or 'Teehee, oh youuu, Pikachuuu~!']" Finished with the imitation, he let go of his fur, which snapped back into place. "[She never gives me a straight answer, so I always assume that she's just being goofy. Even if there really _is_ more to it than that…]"

"[Hmm, goodness… To be fair, that does sound rather suspicious.]"

"[Yeah… I dunno, I guess I've just never thought about it hard enough…]"

After a few seconds, Leavanny took on an impressed look. "[I do have to say, though… that was a very good imitation! You even remembered to fold your ear, too! So impressive~]"

Pikachu bashfully scratched his neck, not expecting the compliment. "[Oh, heh, thanks! I work hard on my impressions~. It's almost like my parents were dittos or someth-]" The mouse shook his head. Now wasn't the time to start boasting! …Yet. "[Er, but anyways, yeah; if I talk to her as Femchu, she might decide to open up more and stop being so indirect, so I think that's what I'll do.]"

Leavanny smiled. "[That sounds like a good plan~. Confessing to your loved one is much harder than doing it to a stranger. For most, anyway.]"

Pikachu smiled back at him, though he frowned as he remembered a promise that he'd made to a certain otter earlier on. "[Oh yeah. We still have to convince Oshawott to let us go and talk with Dawn's team, though. We'll never hear the end of it from him, otherwise.]"

Leavanny's smile faltered. "[Oh dear… but what if he says no?]"

Pikachu crossed his arms. "[Pft, then I'll just go over there, anyway. Buneary's _way_ more important to me than Oshawott's paranoid masculinity crisis. Even if it does mean that he'll never stop complaining for the next century and a half…]"

Leavanny gave an unsure look, though he nodded anyway. "[Hmm, okay then. Ohh, I hope he doesn't get too mad with you if that happens…]"

"[It'll be alright, Leaf, trust me. I mean, after having to travel with Piplup for so long back in the day, I think I've just gotten used to being constantly nagged at. So hey, what harm can a little more nagging do?]" Pikachu replied, making the caterpillar giggle.

After a few seconds, something else occurred to the mouse. "[Hmm, before I do anything romantic, though, I really need to find out what's been eating away at Bun's mind recently.]" He stared at the ground and sighed. "[Finding happiness for myself is pointless if she's not happy…]"

Leavanny sighed sympathetically.

Still looking at the ground, Pikachu chuckled lightly. "[It's funny, really. Back when she was still new to the team, she used to annoy the crud outta me. Heck, she even creeped me out at times… But now, I just can't get enough of her. I mean, sure she's gotten better since we met, but still… it's strange, isn't it?]"

Leavanny murmured in agreement. "[I suppose that she must have left quite an impression on you.]"

"[Yeah…]"

They stayed there in silence for a little while, each of them not sure what else to add.

"[…Do you think that she'll like me back, Leavanny?]" Pikachu asked finally, looking up at the caterpillar.

Leavanny smiled comfortingly and placed a hand on the mouse's back. "[I'm almost certain that she will, Pikachu. She seemed very, very nice, so I don't know why she wouldn't.]"

Pikachu nodded slowly, looking back at the ground. "[Yeah… I guess you're right…]"

Leavanny frowned in concern. "[You know... it's not quite like you to sound so unsure of yourself, Pikachu. You're usually ever so confident.]"

Pikachu sighed. "[I dunno. I'm no good at this whole lovey-dovey relationship thing. It's more complicated than dealing with legendaries, and, believe me, dealing with them is flipping _hard_. I just don't wanna mess things up for us...]"

Removing his hand, Leavanny looked confused. "[Huh. I always figured that you were very good at figuring out relationships, myself. You were very quick to work out Snivy's interest in Oshawott, and Oshawott's interest in... most girls.]"

"[Eh, that's easy, though. Stubborn people are always giving hints that they have a crush on someone, in their own weird way. And Oshawott… well, he may as well just have a massive, flashing sign above his head that says, 'Warning: Currently crushing! Run while you still can!']"

Leavanny giggled. "[Yes, I suppose so. Well, that is unless he really_ does_ like Snivy back, which I… honestly hope he does, although it's hard to tell, really; he's not quite so obvious about that.]"

"[Hmm, yeah, I have no clue either. He's so on and off about it that it's just…]" Pikachu groaned in annoyance. "[Ughh, who even knows anymore!? Man, why does romance have to be so flipping complicated? It's no wonder why Ash and Misty are so stubborn about their feelings for each other all the time. This stuff's impossible…]"

"[Yes... relationships can be very-]" Leavanny paused, suddenly looking curious. "[…Wait, feelings? You mean that Ash's old friend is his special somebody?]"

Pikachu shrugged. "[They wish. They're worse than Oshawott and Snivy when it comes to that.]" He rubbed his chin. "[Heck, thinking about it, hanging around Misty and Ash for so long might be why I'm so good at noticing stubborn crushes. Didn't get any more stubborn-y than them two…]" He mulled this over for a second. Afterwards, he shrugged again. "[But anyways, yeah, they totally like each other, even if they're both more likely to quit pokémon training forever than admit it.]"

Leavanny cupped his leafy hands together. "[D'aww, I wasn't aware that they were so close! How cute~. I do hope that they open up to each other, one day. Preferably without the 'quitting training' part.]"

Pikachu chuckled. If anything could cheer him up, it was Leavanny the romanticist. "[Hehe, well, only time will tell, Leaf.]"

* * *

A few minutes passed in comfortable silence, save for a small conversation about why Leavanny's leafy handkerchief was soft instead of sharp, despite being made from Razor Leaf (It turned out that the sharpness of the leaves faded once they settled, which was interesting). Ash still hadn't returned from getting the drinks, so Pikachu assumed that the line to the gift shop must have been pretty huge. With so many people wanting to bestow gifts upon their newly-found 'goddess', Oshawott, it certainly wouldn't have been a surprise.

Looking across the hall, Pikachu noticed that Dawn had gone back to reading through her book, while her pokémon talked amongst themselves. Well, all of them except for Piplup; he just had his head in his flippers, as if lost in his thoughts. Pikachu wondered if he even knew that he was in a contest hall anymore.

Buneary seemed to be a lot more perked up than earlier, though the mouse still couldn't help but worry about her. Just what could be eating away at his girl's mind…?

…'His girl'? Yup, it was official. Pikachu had gone full-on Brock. Oh dear… if Oshawott could read minds, Pikachu had the feeling that all of the glares in the world wouldn't be able to stop that otter from laughing his shell off. Or scalchop, or whatever.

After a little while, Leavanny spoke, breaking the mouse out of his thoughts, which he was thankful for. "[Well… in any case, very well done with your routine, Pikachu. Your ingenuity was very impressive~]"

"[Hehe, thanks! 'Twas no problem, really!]" Pikachu replied, brushing his paw against his chest in pride. He wasn't happy about how his sprinkler trick had led to Buneary becoming upset, but… he had to take at least a _little _pride in his work.

Leavanny giggled. "[Tee hee! Oh, I'm sure it wasn't~. I do hope that you keep up the good work in the next routine!]"

Pikachu started to smile, but stopped at that last bit. Tilting his head, he asked, "[What do you mean? I'm done with the contest now, aren't I? I beat the best! …Unfairly, granted, but still!]"

Now it was Leavanny's turn to tilt his head. "[Hm? But… what about Dawn's final challenger?]"

"[Err, final challenger? But who could possibly… Oh.]" Ohhhh. He'd forgotten about _her_.

In all of the contest's shenanigans, he'd forgotten about…

…

_Mamoswine_.

…Wait, no, that wasn't right. Mamoswine was a boy, and not a very feminine one at that. So how could that possibly- No, wait! Pikachu remembered now! He'd forgotten about… _Quilava_.

That was a problem. She was nowhere near as graceful as Buneary, true, but she made up for it with a _huge_ amount of energy and confidence backing her up. She wouldn't be an easy fight at all.

Even so, Pikachu wouldn't give up! He'd give it his all to win this! For Ash, for his friends, and most of all, for Buneary!

…Well, okay, fighting for her probably wouldn't work, considering that she was on Quil's team. Still, he got the feeling that, if she'd known who he really was, she would have rooted for him anyway, so why not?

He'd dedicate this entire fight to her! The first person to ever steal his heart…

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED!**

* * *

**Finished:** 05/04 (April)/2015

**Word count:** 7,086

**VGS2's pointless notes:** *Holds chapter* It's been 3000 years…  
Seriously though, for some reason, this ended up being the hardest chapter for me to write. In fact, it was gonna be a part of the previous chapter, but if I'd done that, you wouldn't have had a chapter for several months, which is terribly unfair, isn't it? Plus, it would have been ten thousand words long, so eh.

Also, I, for one, welcome our Lucas overlord. We've missed ya, man! :3

Now all we need is for all of the other guys and girls to make a comeback, and then Smash 4 will be complete. I mean, I'll understand if they don't all reappear, but c'mon, I'm sure Wolf could at least squeeze in, right? Then again, they'd probably give him that weird British-y accent that he had in Starfox 64/Lylat Wars that I don't like as much as his current one, so eh. "What's the bloody matter, scared~? We are going to have quite some fun with this thing!" How silly.

Major props to ravengal for this chapter. She helped me out with a _lot_ of stuff this time, especially most of Dawn's dialogue, because I'm a big scrub when it comes to her, for some reason. So go and raid her ficcing profile, or something. Especially seeing as I subconsciously ripped off her Pikachu's manner of yelling "Thunder… BOOOOOLT!" Whoops!

**Shameless promotion**: If you're a big fan of angst and drama and Hetalia/Fire Emblem, then go and check out ravengal's profile. I hear that her more recent stories are somewhat bereft of reviews for some weird reason, so if you feel like being a _good Samaritan_, you could go over and give her one or two. Just a suggestion!

Also, thanks a bundle, everyone who's read, reviewed, favourited and/or followed this fic. You da best! :P

Welp, that's me done. Tata for now! c:

* * *

**Next up:** A furiously firey finale!


	11. Fiery Finale

**Last time on the Buneary circlejerk...**

Buneary: "I did bad and lost the match, wahhhhhhhh!"

Pikachu: "Oh god, I wanna tap dat."

And now:** FLAMING WEASELS! **(or porcupines/hedgehogs/stoats/pacas/volcanoes/whatevers)

* * *

**Chapter 11****: **_Fiery Finale_

* * *

Once more, Pikachu was in the arena, this time facing down Quilava, who looked very eager to go. For some weird reason, the lightning sculpture, complete with the thunder clouds above, was still in the arena, so the two of them wisely decided to walk around it. Thankfully, though, the water seemed to have either dried up or have been cleaned up, so there was no risk of tripping.

As they walked closer to each other, the young weasel, who was standing on all fours, sighed loudly in satisfaction. "[Ahh… fina-_freaking_-lly! I was starting to think that I'd _never_ get another turn!]"

Pikachu raised an eyebrow. "[What, were you hoping that Buneary was gonna lose, or something?]" he asked in his feminine voice.

"[No way!]" She paused for a second before scratching her front leg awkwardly. "[…Alright, maybe a little, but I didn't want her to lose _that_ hard. I just wanted her to… y'know, do a _little_ lose so that I could perform again, and show off my _awesomeness _to the world once more!]"

Pikachu mentally rolled his eyes. 'Show off' was right. This girl was utterly obsessed with being the center of attention. Quite like another member of Dawn's team that he knew…

"[I have to thank ya, though,]" she continued. "[Buneary looked pretty sad out there, so helping her out was… good of ya. So thanks, 'Femchu'.]"

Pikachu smiled. Buneary must've been talking about him to the rest of her teammates. "[Wasn't a problem at all, Quilava. I was happy to he-]"

"[_But_!]" Quilava exclaimed, butting in, "[…helping my friend out or not, only _one_ of us can leave this place as a winner today…]" Flames noisily escaped her back. "[…and that's gonna be _me_! Ya got that, Femchu?]"

Pikachu felt his entire body almost droop to the floor in exasperation. "[…Loud and clear.]" He picked himself back up. "[Better watch yourself, though. I could say the same thing!]"

Quilava smirked as the flames on her back died down. "[Heh, so cocky! I like that. This is gonna be a match of the ages, I can already tell!]"

…_He_ was being cocky? Man, it was a good job that Pikachu didn't have a hypocrisy meter, or else it would have blown up by now.

Pikachu crossed his arms. "[We'll see!]"

"_Okay, folks, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but_…" Hoste started, speaking through her microphone, "…_it seems that our __**janitors**_…" She glared at a group of people in the corner of the hall, who looked back at her sheepishly. "…_decided that buying Oshawott merchandise was more important than doing their jobs. So it looks like we'll be having another five minute break to-_"

"[No way, forget _that_! I'm _tired_ of taking breaks!]" Quilava interrupted loudly, the flames on her back roaring ferociously again. "[We're doing this _now_!]"

Hoste gave her a weird look, not expecting that reaction. "_Umm… I'm sorry, little… err, something-lava, but we can't begin until the lightning bolt gets cleared away. But, in the meantime, I'm sure that our gift shop is still open and ready for busi_-"

Ignoring her, Quilava ran towards the sculpture, span into a flaming ball, and rammed into its bottom half while yelling, "[_Flame Wheel_!]". Afterwards, it noisily burst apart into a huge shower of icy debris and golden sparkles.

Before the falling top half of the sculpture could hit her, Quilava quickly landed, aimed her head upwards and, after yelling, "[_Flamethrower_!]" unleashed a big wave of fire upwards, causing all of the ice to evaporate into electrical mist.

In less than ten seconds, tiny shards and a rising storm cloud were the only signs that the big sculpture had ever been there to begin with.

Hoste blinked and slowly picked up the mic that she'd dropped. "…_Orrr we could start now! Whatever works_~!_ Ehehe_…"

Quilava triumphantly raised her head high. "[Aha! _Sweet_!]"

Pikachu sweat-dropped. This didn't bode well for their match at all, did it?

Dawn looked like she was about to scold Quilava for being rash, but, after some thought, she sighed and just went with it.

Getting out her coin and hastily moving to the middle of the arena, Hoste prepared to do her turn-deciding coin flip. Just before she could flip it, however, a mysterious, faint glow surrounded her microphone. Seeing that, Hoste sighed, turned away from the audience and flipped a switch on the mic before speaking into it. "Yes, Love? I'm a bit busy flipping coins here, y'know."

Curiously, as she spoke into it, the hall's speakers didn't produce any sound, meaning that only Pikachu and Quilava could hear her. Was it on some kind of private mode, or something?

She paused, as if listening to someone speak. Afterwards, she rolled her eyes. "Oh, hardy har. No, not 'like usual', you cheek. You know what I mean." She paused again before looking worried. "A problem? What do you mean?"

Quilava stood on her hind legs. "[Has… that host woman gone nutty, or somethin'?]" she asked, looking confused. "[She's just yammering to herself.]"

"[I… think she's on her telephone,]" Pikachu responded, tilting his head.

Quilava raised an eyebrow. "[A… microphone phone?]"

"[Yeah, her…]" Pikachu pulled a face. "[…mic-ro-phone.]"

Quilava chuckled in response, though that didn't stop the bad taste in the mouse's mouth.

"Oh jeez, you're right…" Hoste replied to whoever was on her 'phone' while looking up at the ceiling.

Curious, Pikachu followed her gaze. As he did so, his eyes widened. Somehow, the sculpture's storm cloud had started to spread, filling the darkened ceiling with dark clouds and small bursts of thunderous lightning. Oh man, that didn't look safe at all! It was high enough to be out of the audience's reach, granted, but still…

"This… isn't gonna, like, maim anybody, is it?" Hoste asked the person on the other end of her phone in concern. "The last thing I need right now is for the lawsuits to come pouring in. Especially from _these_ crazies." She paused for a while. "No kidding? Hmm…" She put her right index finger on her chin in thought.

After a few seconds, she removed her finger and continued. "Well, if it isn't strong enough to reach anybody, then… well, whatever. It'll add to the theatrics~! So yeah, leave it be." She brushed a stray red hair out of her face as she listened. "Well, if something _does_ happen- which it won't, mind- we'll just get our janitors and their flapping-type pokémon to control the storm, leaving everything hunky-dory!" She paused again before frowning. "…What do you _mean_ that they're vulnerable to lightning!? It's not like they're being shot with arrows, or wind, or whatever!"

That statement confused Pikachu. Arrows and wind? Why those specifically? This was a very strange lady.

After another pause, the weirdly-dressed host sighed. "Well… okay, if it looks like things are going to be bad for business, then sure, you're allowed to blow 'em away with Elwi- err…" She glanced at Pikachu and Quilava. "…that windy pokémon move. You know the one." She paused for a few more seconds. Afterwards, she smiled. "Okie dokie. Love you too, baby~"

Finally done with the weird conversation, she flipped the switch on her microphone and started talking again, this time being audible on the hall's speakers. "_So sorry for that, folks! Just talking to the… special effects team! Yes, they're the ones to thank for our thunderously dynamic, and safe, final battle_~!" The crowd made impressed noises in response before cheering.

Pikachu rolled his eyes. He couldn't decide who he was more disappointed in: her, for being a bad fibber, or the audience, for believing her…

Quilava huffed, standing on all fours again. "[Hmph! What a big _liar_! She's lucky that she can di-… disqwa-, disquil-ify...]" She paused, looking puzzled. She was still stumbling over her bigger words, it seemed.

"[…You mean, 'disqualify'?]" Pikachu offered.

She looked sheepish. "[Y-yeah, that one.]" Clearing her throat, she quickly regained her bravado. "[If she couldn't 'disqualify' people, I'd blow a big Smokescreen at her. That'd teach her!]"

Pikachu chuckled. "[Heh, well, I won't complain if you try that anyway, so go ahead.]"

She shook her head. "[Nice try, Femchu, but we're doing this _my_ way! The _awesome_ way!]"

The mouse shrugged. It'd been worth a try.

Finally, after what seemed like years, Hoste flipped her coin, which landed heads side up, meaning that Quilava was the first to go. Afterwards, she went back to her table and held the mic to her mouth again. "_Okay then, girls_…_"_ A loud thunder clap rang out from above. _"_…_let's end this thing_!"

Pikachu smirked as he moved out of the way. With pleasure!

After some thinking, Dawn nodded and pointed outwards. "Quilava, use Flamethrower to make a big pillar of fire!"

Flames spouted from Quilava's head and tail. "[Flame… _THROWER_!]" At once, a huge stream of fire shot out from her mouth and engulfed the floor in front of her, rising into a thick, towering pillar of flames.

"Good! Now, combine it with Smokescreen to fill it full of smoke!" Dawn continued.

Without stopping her stream of fire, Quilava shouted a muffled, "[_Smmokescreen..._!]" Afterwards, the red flames coming out of her mouth gained a very blackish appearance to them as they continued to fly towards the tower.

As her attack reached the fiery pillar, a big cloud of smoke erupted from the top of the flaming tower.

Eventually, after a small while, she stopped her attack, leaving behind a big mushroom-like column of fire, with a flaming red base and a dark grey top.

The crowd clapped in response as Hoste started to speak. "_Not bad, 'eh, folks? With a bright start like that, I can already tell that this match is going to be one fiery finale to end them all!_"

Extinguishing her head and tail, Quilava smirked while walking away from her handiwork. "[With me, you'd better believe it, baby!]"

Pikachu grimaced. This girl's confidence was out of this world, and, even at such a young age, she had the skills to back up her boasting, too. This wasn't going to be an easy match at all…

His mood brightened as he eyed both sides of the hall, though. On Ash's side, he saw Ash smiling confidently and Leavanny cheering for the mouse, while trying to ignore the circling storm clouds above. On Dawn's side, he saw Buneary throwing a big, bright smile in his direction, as if trying to reassure him.

Yeah, he could do this! He just _knew_ he could!

"Pikachu!" Ash started in his feminine voice. "Use Thunderbolt on that fire!"

Pikachu turned towards the fire and charged up some electricity. "[Thunder… BOOOOOLT!]" At once, he fired it towards the fiery pillar's base. Once his attack hit it, the electricity flew up the column and into the smoke on top, which then began to sparkle like the thunderous clouds far above.

As he finished, he eyed up his work as the lights were, once again, turned off for effect. In front of him was a huge pillar of lightning-infused fire, topped by a miniature, sparkling smoke cloud. It reminded the mouse of the hypothetical scenario that he'd dreamt up, right before the contest had begun. That is, the one involving the sparkly fire. It was really cool!

Now if only Quilava's counter was to just lazily make the fire bigger. That would have been an easy victory for Pikachu…

"_A simple, but effective move, folks_!" Hoste said while the spotlight made a move towards Quilava. "_I don't even think the water-types would wanna touch that fire with a ten-foot pole_!"

Realizing that the spotlight was on her, Quilava did a determined pose, as if to show off.

After some thinking, Dawn yelled, "Quilava! Jump into the fire and use Flame Wheel and Swift inside the smoke!"

Igniting the fires on her back, Quilava ran towards the fiery pillar and, unfazed by its roaring flames or its sparkling electricity, jumped into it.

Soon afterwards, Pikachu heard her voice ring out. "[_Flamiiiing_…!]" The smoke cloud above the pillar lit up in a reddish hue. "[…_Swift Wheel_!]" At once, dozens of stars shot out of the smoke in all directions, which all vanished after flying a small distance away.

Finished, Quilava jumped out of the fiery pillar as a flaming ball and landed on all fours, the fires that were surrounding her body dispersing violently. As they cleared away completely, she smirked. "[Heh. How was _that_?]"

Pikachu was impressed. The smoky top of the fire pillar was now adorned with tons of star-shaped holes, all of which were giving off bright, glowing colors, which stood out amongst the black smoke. It was like a starry, flaming disco ball!

"_Wow! Yet another __**star**__ performance by Dawn and Quilava, folks_!" Hoste praised as the audience clapped and as Pikachu rolled his eyes at the pun. "_It'll be hard for 'em, but let's see how Team Traydem responds_!"

Frowning determinedly, Ash reached for his cap to pull it backwards. After grabbing at empty air for a few seconds, though, he dejectedly gave up and pointed forwards instead. "Pikachu, jump above that fire and throw an Electro Ball into it!"

The spotlight trailing behind him, Pikachu ran forwards towards the pillar. Before he reached it, he yelled, "[Quick…!]" and zipped upwards at an angle, going higher than the pillar. Afterwards, he yelled, "[…Attack!]" and soared forwards, towards the fire.

Soaring over it, he did many forward flips while charging some electricity in his tail. When in position, he yelled, "[_Electro Ball_!]" and then flung a surging ball of electricity from his tail straight down into the smoke. Afterwards, he landed in a handstand before flinging himself onto his feet.

The Electro Ball flew downwards, thanks to the mouse's rolling momentum, and went straight through the top of the cloud of smoke, tearing a big hole into it. Afterwards, there was a loud, electrical _bang_ as a big column of light poured out of the top of the pillar's smoke, and its star holes. This created a flaming, starry volcano of light!

The audience clapped again, though it was getting harder to hear them over the low rumbling of thunder from above. Pikachu really hoped that the storm wasn't going to cause any problems…

"_It just keeps on getting better and better, folks_!" Hoste said excitedly. "_How they're going to keep stocking up on these routines is a mystery to me_! _Still, I'm sure they'll find ways to keep the excitement coming in_!"

"Quilava, use Swift to carve a sculpture out of the fire!" Dawn ordered.

Ah, of course. Pikachu had been wondering about when 'sculpture time' was gonna start again, like it did in most matches. It was certainly going to be tricky to make something out of fire, but he was sure that they would manage. If Oshawott could find a way to do it, then they certainly could, too!

Quilava eyed up the pillar of fire as the spotlight found her. After a while, her eyes lit up as she thought of something.

Inhaling, she aimed at the pillar. "[Okay then… _Swift_!]" A concentrated stream of stars shot out of the weasel's mouth and flew towards the fire. As they reached it, they blew away a chunk of the fire, leaving a big hole in the side of the pillar.

Moving around the fire, Quilava repeated this several times in key areas, taking off chunk after chunk of fire. Afterwards, she did the same thing to the smoke, sculpting a different image.

Once she was finished, the weasel stood on her hind legs and crossed her arms in satisfaction. …Looking exactly like the flaming sculpture that she'd just carved, which was pulling the exact same pose while underneath a black, smoky sign that read '#1'.

It wasn't perfect, being blocky in some places and a bit bendy in others, but it was enough to impress the crowd, who clapped enthusiastically.

"_Not bad, folks_!" Hoste started. "_I'm sure it's physically impossible, but hey_;_ after this contest, I'm just about ready to believe anything_!" After all of Oshawott's contest battles from earlier today, Pikachu felt inclined to agree.

Dawn seemed to groan as she saw Quilava's statue, as if she didn't expect the blatant narcissism, but knew that she should have done.

"Okay, Pikachu, carve that fire into something better with Iron Tail!" Ash yelled, pumping a fist.

Tsk. Pikachu really wished that Ash would specify what he'd wanted when he'd asked for that. The mouse had no idea what he could make! And the random streaks of light and noisy thunder claps from above weren't helping at all...

The mouse quickly looked around for inspiration. What exactly could he even…? Oh, wait! Speaking of Oshawott's earlier routines… Pikachu glanced over at Buneary, who seemed to be cheering him on. Yes, the mouse knew what he could do!

Just before he could run over to the fire sculpture, though, he stopped as he realized something. If he did this, it would burn the heck out of his paper heart, wouldn't it?

He brought out his tail and looked at its heart-shaped tip. It may have been strong against steel and electricity, but fire would destroy it in an instant, which would be _horrible_ for business! Especially seeing as Buneary was watching…

…Wait a minute. Pikachu looked closer at his tail tip. Why was it flatter than before? And soggier, for that matter?

…Oh wait, of course! The sprinklers! They must have soaked his paper heart, making it go all floppy. He forgot that paper is weak to water. Man, he was glad that it hadn't turned to mush while he was getting rained on.

Touching it, he could feel that it was still pretty damp, which meant that… maybe...

…Pikachu nodded and then ran towards the fire, his tail becoming solid like metal. "[Iron Tail!]" Reaching the fire, he swiped his tail at it, taking off a large chunk of flame. Afterwards, he spun around and swiped at it again, and again, and many more times, stringing together a long combo of Iron Tail attacks in key areas.

After many more tail swipes, he ended his final attack by back-flipping away from the sculpture, simultaneously giving it one last swipe. After that, he shot three weak Thunderbolts out of his cheeks towards the new sculpture, electrifying three specific parts to make them glow a bright yellow.

Done with that, he stepped back to admire his work, and wasn't disappointed with what he saw. Taking cues from Oshawott's 'Snivy holding a heart' statue from before, Pikachu had managed to lovingly create a burning Buneary sculpture, with shiny, sparkling yellow fluff on its waist and ears. The black '#1' smoke cloud stayed floating above it.

Glancing back at his tail heart, Pikachu could see that the fire had caused it to start steaming slightly, though it was otherwise fine. Those sprinklers had really saved his tail this time. Literally!

"_D'aww, how sweet, folks_!" Hoste cooed. "_It looks like she still hasn't forgotten her little friend_~. _Keep this up, and she might start thinking that you're gonna propose_!"

Pikachu chuckled awkwardly to himself as he tried to make his blush seem less obvious. He really hoped that Buneary didn't take that statement too literally.

The crowd clapped enthusiastically, though Pikachu was only interested in one particular pokémon's reaction. Looking over at Dawn's side of the field, he saw Buneary take on a happy look of surprise. Afterwards, she held her paws up to her face, looking very touched.

After a little while, she looked at Pikachu, who couldn't resist playfully winking at her. Once she saw that, she giggled before winking back, making the mouse smile. He loved to see her happy...

As the crowd continued to cheer, Quilava ran closer to Pikachu, looking angry. "[Ohhh, you _jerk_! I worked hard on that awesome thing! Why did you have to ruin it!?]"

Pikachu gave her a funny look. "[What do you mean 'ruined'? Are you saying that your friend, Buneary, ruined it…?]"

"[Yeah, I…]" Quilava paused. "[…Wait, n-no! Auntie Buneary didn't ruin anything! I-I mean, Buneary doesn't ruin anything! I mean didn't! I mean…]" Quilava shook her head and frowned, as Pikachu chuckled mischievously. "[Eh, whatever! Either way, you're gonna _pay_ for rui- _changing_ my awesome work!]"

Ignoring her boast, Pikachu tilted his head as he thought about her words._ Auntie_ Buneary? Huh, as far as Pikachu knew, they weren't related at all.

Then again, it could have just been an affectionate name that the weasel was using, which made sense. Even though Quilava _really_ didn't like to show it, or admit it, she could get very affectionate with her friends, almost treating some of them as if they were family. Heck, she'd even given Pikachu a nickname of his own, which was 'Uncle Pikachu'.

…Wait, Uncle Pikachu and Auntie Buneary? Oh, Quilava. That sneaky weasel…

"[…Hey, are you even listening to me!?]" she snapped.

Pikachu flinched. "[Ah! Oh, right, yeah, totally! Er, you'll watch me do some awesome work, right?]"

Quilava growled. Whoops, wrong answer. "[Hmph, like heck I will! The only one here who's gonna do awesome is _me_!]"

Noticing the spotlight moving over to the weasel, Pikachu moved out of the way. "[We'll see about that, Quil!]"

"Quilava!" Dawn exclaimed. "Dash around the fire using Flame Wheel and Flamethrower!"

Hearing that, Quilava moved several feet away from the sculpture. Once in position, she began to run laps around it in a circle.

Once she was going at a decent speed, she curled up into a ball and yelled, "[_SUPER Flame Wheel_!]" Afterwards, a huge, disc-shaped fire completely enveloped her, making her look like a literal wheel of flames. Then, not losing any of her speed, she began to roll around the fiery Buneary.

As she continued to roll around it, fire started to form on the ground behind her, which quickly rose up into a big wall of flames as the weasel continued to roll laps over it.

Eventually, once the wall of fire began to tower over the Buneary statue, Quilava burst out of the flaming wall and uncurled herself, simultaneously dispersing the flames covering her. Afterwards, she landed on her four paws and posed.

"_Wow, folks! She sure nailed that spinning dash, didn't she_?"

It was impressive. Even though the Buneary statue was surrounded on all sides by the wall of fire, it could still be seen through the flames.

Grinning, Quilava turned to face Pikachu, though she nearly lost her balance in the process. "[Hah! How'd you like _that_, Femchu? I'm- …Woah.]" After a pause, her grin dropped, replaced by a look of confusion. "[…Wait, which one of you is the real Femchu? And how are you all flying around?]"

Pikachu raised an eyebrow. "[…Huh? What do you- …Oh. Right.]" As soon as he saw Quilava trying hard not to topple over, and that her eyes were spinning wildly, everything made sense. Suddenly, he was very glad that he didn't know Flame Wheel. "[Er, you should probably go lie down, or something.]"

"[No way!]" Quilava finally responded, walking away with a wobble in her step. "[Nothing can stop me, Femchu ghosts!]"

"[Heh. If ya say so,]" Pikachu replied, chuckling. The girl's dizziness reminded Pikachu of the time that he'd been spun around by Buneary, after she'd grabbed his paws and danced around in excitement.

Man, that girl used to be so… quirky. Well, way more so than she was now, anyway. She would've never passed off as that quiet, brown pokémon that had bumped into Pikachu earlier on in the contest, that's for sure. Buneary was way too happy and extroverted for that.

Speaking of that strange, quiet pokémon, Pikachu was still wondering about her, whatever her species had been. He didn't know why, but that pokémon had been stuck in the mouse's mind for a while. He supposed that it didn't help that her voice had been similar to Buneary's saddened one…

Well, whatever. This contest was more important than whoever that pokémon women was, so Pikachu decided to forget about it.

Speaking of the contest, the mouse had no idea how they were gonna win back the round. Quilava had basically cut off all loose threads, leaving them with little to work with.

Pikachu _could_ just electrify the wall, but it would have just been more of the same old 'zap the fire to make it sparkly' routine, so he got the feeling that Hoste wouldn't have found it unique enough to accept it. They needed to do something outstanding in order to continue! …But what?

Looking over at Ash, it seemed that the mouse wasn't the only one who was stumped. His trainer was busy scratching away at his wig in confusion with one hand, while hugging a shuddering Leavanny with the other.

…Well, Pikachu could always try and use Electro Ball to-

A bright flash of light from above broke the mouse's train of thought. As he tried to regain it, a noisy clap of thunder joined the bright flash, derailing the train for good. _Ugh_! How the heck could Pikachu focus with this loud-as-all-heck thunderstorm above him!?

Annoyed, he looked up at the rumbling storm clouds high above. They seemed to be growing more restless with each passing second. Thankfully, though, they still didn't seem dangerous enough to hurt anybody yet. Interestingly, the eye of the storm seemed to be directly above the Buneary statue, as if the entire storm itself was spiraling around it. It was like something out of a movie!

As awesome as it looked, though, it only served as a distraction. It wouldn't help Pikachu win the… Wait.

Pikachu stared hard at the flashing clouds. _Could_ they help him?

…Yeah, maybe they could! Thinking back on a conversation that he'd had with Oshawott and Snivy during Leavanny's match, Pikachu had the perfect plan!

As the mouse looked down again, he locked eyes with Ash, who had also been comprehensively watching the storm at the same time. As they saw each other, Ash gave him a quizzical look, as if to ask him if he really wanted to go through with this.

Pikachu paused, pondering it. After a little while, he smirked and confidently balled a fist. He only had one shot at this… but he could do it! He _knew_ he could!

Ash copied the mouse's smirk and nodded before pointing towards the ceiling. "Okay, Pikachu! _Thunderbolt the sky_!"

The mouse concentrated on the storm clouds high above. Afterwards, charging up as much electricity as he could, he yelled, "[Thunder… _BOOOOLT_!]" and unleashed _everything_ he had into the clouds.

His electricity flew directly into the eye of the storm, causing the raging lightning to grow intense, and its thunderous rumbling to become almost deafening.

A short while later, Pikachu stopped firing his electricity, and waited. Seconds later, the storm clouds returned the favor by firing their own Thunderbolt back at him, tenfold.

As the humongous bolt of lightning struck him, Pikachu cried out and grit his teeth. The heat from the fire was _nothing_ compared to this. It was like facing down twenty Flamethrower attacks all at once! It was… so painful… but Pikachu couldn't back down. He… had to fight it…!

Gahh! How had he… done this… the first time!? He didn't… remember it being so… _painful_! Urk, he'd let his confidence get… the better of him...!

Just as Pikachu was ready to give in to the pain, he heard voices. Voices yelling encouragement. The voices of Ash, Leavanny and even Buneary. They were rooting for him.

...Pikachu gasped as realization hit him. It felt like his heart had lit up like a bright spark. Yes… that was it! His friends, the ones he was fighting for, the ones who were counting on him; that was how he had activated it the first time! He'd done it for them!

All of the searing pain faded away as energy filled Pikachu's veins. Yes! He could_ feel the power_!

With an echoing cry, Pikachu yelled, "[_THUNDER ARMOR_!]" Afterwards, a bright flash filled the entire hall with light.

As the light cleared, the humongous lightning bolt had vanished, and the storm clouds had begun to disappear. That wasn't what the crowd were currently gasping at, though.

Looking down at himself, Pikachu saw that his fur was now glowing a brilliant shade of gold! Even the parts that weren't yellow before. Heck, amazingly, even the paper on his tail had gained a metallic, golden gleam!

Yeah! _This_ was the power of _Thunder Armor_!

"…_Hooooly shipping costs,_" was all that Hoste could say.

"[_W-w-what the hecking heck_!? H-h-how…?]" Quilava uttered, taking several steps back.

Stopping his cowering, Leavanny looked at Pikachu in amazement, as if a legendary had just revealed itself.

Dawn and everyone on her team could only stare in awe. Well, everyone except for Piplup, anyway. Somehow, he _still_ had his head in the clouds. Tsk, not even the world being blown up would probably catch his attention…

Buneary, however, was an entirely different story. She currently looked like she was having difficulty removing her jaw from the ground. The sight made Pikachu grin in satisfaction.

"Alright, Pikachu!" Ash yelled, pumping both fists. "Now, show 'em what you can do!"

Pikachu nodded confidently before looking up towards the ceiling. Ready to get as high up as he could, he jumped and yelled, "[_Quick Attack_!]" before zipping up towards the- _Whoa_!

He was… near the ceiling already!? Quick Attack wasn't meant to be _that_ quick, and it wasn't supposed to send him anywhere near as high, either! It was almost as if he had teleported! Could it be that his Thunder Armor was powering up his moves? To legendary levels, even?

…Pikachu smirked. This was gonna get _awesome_!

Performing a twirling nosedive, the mouse began to fall, charging up electricity as he came down. As he fell into position, he decided to take a page from Oshawott's 'hot-blooded move names' book, and yell, "[_Plasma_… _BOOOOOOLT_!]"

Afterwards, while still twirling, he held his arms outwards and unleashed a humongous bolt of golden lightning towards the flames below. As he fired it, he stayed suspended in mid-air, due to the force of his attack.

Once his attack hit its mark, the electricity violently spread throughout all of the flames, jumping from fire to fire. Eventually, after many seconds of being electrocuted, the flames from both the wall and the Buneary sculpture turned into a vibrant golden color that matched the mouse's fur.

Satisfied, he stopped his attack and then charged up a different one. "[Warp Attack!]" Everything became blurry for a split second, and then, in a snap, he was on the ground again, right next to the golden statue of fire.

The crowd cheered as a result, but Pikachu wasn't satisfied yet. He _could_ just end his routine here, which would've easily earned him a victory, but where would the fun in that be? He wasn't going to stop until the hall was screaming his name!

Charging some electricity in his tail, Pikachu formed a ball of sparkling energy. However, thanks to his Thunder Armor, this Electro Ball was _far_ bigger than his usual one, and it only kept growing in size!

Once it was as big as a _snorlax_, he yelled, "[_Eeeeeeelectro Bomb_!]" and did a back-flip, flinging it high into the air. As it went up, he yelled, "[Warp Attack!]" and teleported next to the giant, golden orb of electricity.

A second later, his tail shined an extremely bright metallic color. "[_Silver Tail_!]" In mid-air, he spun around and sliced off a huge chunk of the giant floating orb, causing the chunk to evaporate, sparkling away into thin air. Afterwards, he warped to a different part of the orb, and sliced off another chunk. He did this two more times in two different areas until finally warping back to the ground, happy with his work.

Faster than lightning, he'd managed to turn his humongous Electro Bomb into a giant, glowing flower, just like the one on his head, though golden instead of blue.

As the Electro Flower fell back down towards him, he held both paws up and yelled, "[_PLASMA_ _BOOOOOOOLT_!]" Afterwards, he shot a huge barrage of golden lightning towards it, causing a huge clap of thunder to ring out as the attacks connected.

Without stopping his electrical barrage, Pikachu kept the Flower Bomb twirling in the air above him with his lightning.

As Pikachu held this pose, everyone in the hall gave him a humongous round of applause, with some people and pokémon even chanting his name. Heh, _now_ he was satisfied!

"_Oh, gods. Suddenly, I regret cutting the production of those Pika shirts…_" Hoste mumbled absentmindedly, before snapping back to attention. "…_O-oh, er, look at that, folks_! _Who could've guessed that Ashley would have __**two**__ legends on her team_? "

Continuing to twirl the electrical flower above his head with his lightning, Pikachu turned to look at Ash and Leavanny, who were both cheering excitedly. Looking at Dawn's team, he saw the exact same reaction from Buneary, complete with a big look of wonderment, which was far better than the surprised or shocked reactions from the rest of her team. Or the apathetic reaction from Piplup…

Quilava growled and angrily stomped on the ground with her front paws. "[This isn't fair at all! Why don't _I_ get a super form!? _Aghhh_!]"

The mouse beamed at all of the praise. Outside of battling, or helping to save the world, he'd never felt so accomplished before! Not bad for just a casual contest!

It was a massive shame he had to keep this hidden from Buneary, though. If she didn't have a crush on him already, then she certainly would have done after that! Man, knowing her, she would have had a hero worship-induced heart attack for sure. Being as affectionate as she was, it would have probably earned him a big hug, too. She was far more friendly than the buneary from the start of the contest that had bumped into him, so it certainly wouldn't have surprised hi- …Wait.

...That brown-furred pokémon from before had been a buneary, hadn't she? It would explain why her voice was so similar to Buneary's shy, almost depressed kind of… voice.

…It wasn't just similar. It was exactly the same. Could it have been that… _Buneary_ was the timid brown pokémon? But… but that didn't make sense! That rabbit from before seemed really shy and withdrawn, which was _nothing_ like Buneary! There would have to be something really wrong with her to choose shying away from pokémon instead of talking, and being her bubbly, expressive self.

Then again, with all of the absentminded behavior that Buneary had been showing recently, as well as all of the sudden sadness…

Pikachu frowned in worry. If that pokémon really _had_ been her… then maybe her problems were more serious than he thought. He needed to get to the bottom of- Huh?

…O-oh no! As Pikachu's thoughts drifted to Buneary, he'd forgotten to keep his electricity going! The giant Electro Flower above him was threatening to crash into him!

Panicked, he upped the voltage on his Plasma Bolt, trying to keep the flower in the air. However, the more he increased the power, the more volatile the flower became, eventually devolving into a big, shapeless blob of unstable energy. If that wasn't bad enough, either, it had begun to slowly fall...

…and it was headed straight towards Pikachu!

Ohhhh no, oh _no_! If that thing hit him, he was as good as burnt toast! But it was no use! It was too chaotic to control, even for Pikachu! And it was slowly getting closer, still!

By this point, the audience had started murmuring worriedly, noticing that something had gone horribly wrong.

"Oh no, Pikachu! _Hang in there_!" Ash yelled, almost letting his real voice slip.

Despite hearing that, Pikachu couldn't stop the orb. Eventually, it had gotten so close that he had no choice but to try and hold it back with his paws. The second it touched him, he shrieked. It felt like he was handling _magma_!

Urghhh… He couldn't fight it… it was too strong…

Why…? Why did he have to… mess up now…? After doing… so well, too…

Oh… crud.

The giant orb sank even lower, swallowing him whole. Afterwards, an electrical explosion rang out across the hall, drowning out everybody's worried cries. Even Buneary's.

Then everything went black.

* * *

**…**

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01/05 (May)/2015

6,097


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